Experimental Study on the Seismic Performance of Traditional Chuan-Dou Style Wood Frames in Southern China

Chuan-Dou style wood construction is one of the most widely used structures in Chinese history, mainly used to build residential houses in south China. As there were some common failures observed after severe earthquakes in past 20 years, it is urgent to study its seismic performance and retrofitting methods to mitigate the earthquake hazard. This paper presents the experimental results of quasi-static tests on two full-scale, one-storey, two-bay Chuan-Dou style wood frames and two groups of mortise-tenon joints. Experimental results showed that Chuan-Dou style wood frame exhibited reasonable seismic performance in terms of energy dissipation, strength degradation and deformation capacity, but its lateral stiffness is insufficient. Seismic performance of joints plays an important role on frame performance, which will be the key to improve the seismic performance of Chuan-Dou style wood construction. Finally, suggestions are presented to improve the seismic performance of Chuan-Dou style wood construction.