Experimental study on seismic performance of timber frame with novel energy-dissipation joints

Abstract

The beam-column joints of traditional timber frames are mortise-tenon or iron hook joints, which are prone to joint damage during earthquakes, thus causing the collapse of buildings. To avoid such adverse seismic damage, this study proposes an energy-dissipation joint applied to timber frames. The energy-dissipation joints serve both as joint connections and knee braces, providing multiple lines of seismic defense. To verify the effectiveness of the energy-dissipation joints, quasi-static tests were conducted on four specimens. It is shown that the energy-dissipation joints successfully achieve the intended objective. When the inter-story drift ratio of the timber frame is small, the energy-dissipation elements in the energy-dissipation joints remain in an elastic state. As the inter-story drift ratio increases, the energy-dissipation elements in the energy-dissipation device gradually begin to yield and dissipate energy. The energy-dissipation elements cease operation when the inter-story drift ratio is relatively large, and the energy-dissipation device transforms into knee brace to provide lateral stiffness to the timber frame. Compared with the traditional timber frame, the load-bearing capacity, lateral stiffness, and energy dissipation capacity of the timber frame with the energy-dissipation joints were significantly improved, and the failure mode shifted from beam-column joint damage to timber column fracture damage, and no collapse occurred under an inter-story drift ratio of 12.86%.