The mechanical properties of Chinese traditional timber buildings with the type of post-and-lintel construction were studied with experimental and theoretical method. There are mainly two types of mortise-tenon joints in the type of post-and-lintel construction which are the Mantou mortise-tenon joint and the Zhi mortise-tenon joint at the foot of short column respectively. In this article, two scaled Mantou mortise-tenon joint specimens and three scaled Zhi mortise-tenon joint specimens designed according to the actual configurations were tested and analyzed. The failure modes, hysteresis curves, skeleton curves, and in-plane rotational rigidity of these two types of mortise-tenon joints under low cyclic loading were obtained. The results show that the hysteretic curves of the Mantou mortise-tenon joints appear to be Z shape and have obvious pinch effects, but the hysteresis curves of the Zhi mortise-tenon joints at the foot of short column appear to be reverse S shape and are not plump. During the process of the test, these two types of mortise-tenon joints orderly pass through elastic stage, yield stage, and failure stage. Furthermore, with the consideration of the nonlinear contact influence of the mortise-tenon joint and the nonlinear stress-strain behavior of the timber material, the mechanical properties of these two types of mortise-tenon joints were analyzed by ANSYS software. The theoretical results agreed well with the experimental results. The relationship of the elastic in-plane rotational rigidity, elastic out-of-plane rotational rigidity, and elastic torsional rigidity of these two types of mortise-tenon joints were achieved, the ratio of these three dimensional rotation rigidity is about 4.64:1.00:0.78 for the Mantou mortise-tenon joints, and is about 0.97:1.00:0.74 for the Zhi mortise-tenon joints at the foot of short column. The results can provide theoretical base for structural analysis and repair design of the Chinese traditional timber buildings with the type of post-and-lintel construction.

The hall-style timber frame built in the Song and Yuan dynasties (960–1368 AD) is one of the most important structural prototypes of the traditional timber architecture in East Asia. The current research, through a typical case of the main hall of Baoguo Temple in Ningbo, China, aims to present an accurate and effective seismic performance evaluation method applicable to hall-style timber structures without time–cost expenditure. To obtain more realistic seismic response of hall-style timber frame, a simplified numerical model of the main hall of Baoguo Temple is established based on in situ measurements and low-cycle reversed loading tests results of mortise–tenon joints, moreover, nonlinear static pushover analysis has been performed to quantify the seismic performance levels under five loading conditions. The generalized force–deformation relationship of the timber plastic hinges is modified regarding to the moment–rotation curves of four special mortise–tenon joints. The seismic behaviour of global hall-style timber frame is evaluated through capacity spectrum method and verified by time history analysis, local failure mechanisms are evaluated by the occurrence sequence of plastic hinges. Finally, a performance-based assessment method adequate for the traditional hall-style timber architectures has been proposed with comparison to the current codes. The results have shown that the structural stiffness of the width-direction is less than that of the depth direction due to the asymmetrical configuration of the timber frame, and the building can maintain a stable state under large lateral displacement before collapsing. The inter-storey drift angles of the building under peak ground accelerations of 0.1 g, 0.2 g, and 0.3 g are less than the suggested ultimate values in the current local codes, however, the main hall represents to be more vulnerable to damage when suffer seismic action along the width-direction. This research can provide a reference for seismic performance evaluation and preventive conservation of ancient hall-style timber architectural heritage.

Many timber lounge bridges are found in the south of Zhejiang Province and the north of Fujian Province in China. The timber lounge bridge is a unique type of timber arch bridge structure worldwide. Most of these bridges have some damages due to the influence by environmental impact and human action. In order to scientifically preserve these timber lounge bridges, their architectural configuration, structural performance, and damage mechanisms should be studied first, and then some adaptive repair methods can be put forward. The Wenxing Lounge Bridge is a famous and typical example of this type of bridge. This study investigated in detail how to repair the Wenxing Lounge Bridge. Since this bridge had much serious damage, such as asymmetric deformation, inclination and torsion, cracking and deflection of some timber members, and the slipping-off of the scissors braces and the crossbeams, and since the bridge occasionally swayed when people walked across it, it needed to be repaired urgently. Through the detailed on-site surveying and visits to the local bridge craftsmen, the architectural configurations and the damage characteristics of this bridge were understood. The finite element model analysis of this bridge before damage and after damage was made respectively to study the structural performance. Finally, the reasons for the damages of this bridge were analyzed and the adaptive repair design of the bridge is presented here. This work serves as a model for similar timber arch bridges.

In order to study structural properties of Dingtougong mortise-tenon joints of Chinese traditional hall-style timber buildings built in the Song and Yuan dynasties, and to provide theoretical basis for structural analysis and scientific conservation of this type of architectural heritages. First, the main structural characteristics of the Chinese hall-style timber buildings built in the Song and Yuan dynasties were sorted out, including the structural forms, structural dimensions, and configurations of mortise-tenon joints. Then, the low cyclic loading tests of the six reduced-scale mortise-tenon joints were carried out, including the five groups of Dingtougong mortise-tenon joints, and the one reference group of mortise-tenon joint without Dingtougong. The results show that all the five groups of Dingtougong mortise-tenon joints have better structural performance than the one reference group of mortise-tenon joint on the aspects of ultimate capacity and rotational rigidity. In the five groups of Dingtougong mortise-tenon joints, the structural performance of the Dingtougong mortise-tenon joint with Dingtougong of through mortise-tenon joint is obviously superior to that of the Dingtougong mortise-tenon joint with Dingtougong of half mortise-tenon joint. Besides, considering material nonlinearity and contact nonlinearity, the finite element models of the six groups of mortise-tenon joints were built up by ANSYS, and the structural properties of these mortise-tenon joints under in-plane vertical load, out-of-plane horizontal load and torque load were analyzed and compared with the experimental results. The theoretical results very coincide with the experimental results. Under in-plane vertical load, the Dingtougong obviously improves the mechanical performance of the mortise-tenon joint. In addition, the relationships among the initial elastic rotational rigidity K_Y under in-plane vertical load, the initial elastic rotational rigidity K_X under out-of-plane horizontal load, and the initial elastic rotational rigidity K_R under torque load of these six groups of mortise-tenon joints were obtained, the results of which can provide theoretical base for structural analysis and conservation design of Chinese traditional hall-style timber buildings.