In-situ measurements of dynamic responses of traditional timber buildings under ambient vibration

As located either near subway or road traffic lines, traditional timber buildings are subjected to micro vibrations. In order to study the characteristic of dynamic response under ambient vibration, in-situ measurements were performed on a Tailiang-style timber building with six purlins in proximity to tracks between Caishikou Station and Taoranting Station on Line 4 of Beijing Metro. Firstly, the environmental vibration response characteristics of the traditional wood structure are obtained by using the horizontal peak velocity of the measuring point at the top of the column. Next, the characteristics of the environmental vibration source are obtained by analyzing the time-domain indexes and power spectral density of the vibrations at the base of the column. Finally the transfer ratio of the vibration at the base and top of the eave column in one-third octave band domain is analyzed. The analysis results indicate that the subway traffic behaves as the main vibration source for the ambient vibrations of traditional wood. The ambient vibration responses can be effectively reduced through mitigating the bands between 50 and 90Hz. © 2019, Editorial Office of China Civil Engineering Journal. All right reserved.