Typical Aseismic Constitution Problems of Tou-Kung in the Forbidden City

Abstract

To protect Chinese ancient buildings, tou-kung (bracket sets) in the Forbidden City in Beijing were taken as example to study their aseismic constitution problems and strengthening methods by survey as well as analysis methods. According to constitution characters and mechanical performances of these tou-kungs, their typical aseismic constitution problems were summed up, causes for the problems were discussed, and strengthening advices were proposed. Results show that typical aseismic constitution problems of these tou-kungs include decay, crack, deflection, slack and disengage of parts and so on; main causes relate not only to constitution, construction and bearing performances of bracket sets, but also material properties of wood; besides, effectively strengthening methods for these tou-kungs include reassembling, gluing, iron components connection and so on.