Experimental Study on the Creep Behaviour of Structural Component of Traditional Wooden Buildings

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify the bending creep behaviour of sawn lumber beam of Japanese Cypress and the compressive creep behaviour of full-size masugumi, which is one of the most important components in old wooden Japanese buildings in terms of both structure and decoration. As the former, practical size sawing (120×240×6000mm) was applied, and bending creep test was carried out for 4 years. As a result, approximate formula for bending creep behaviour was obtained. According to this formula, total deflection after 100 years later is estimated to be about two and a half times as big as initial deflection. As the latter, by using full-size masugumi component, which was modeled on that in national treasure building “Toshodaiji Kondo”, compressive creep test was carried out for 4 years. As a result, approximate formula for compressive creep behaviour was obtained. According to this formula, total compressive deformation after 100 years is estimated to be about five times as big as initial deformation.