Experimental Study on the Lateral Performance of Columns in Traditional Chinese Timber Structures

Columns in traditional Chinese timber structures were very important in resisting lateral loads of structures. This paper presents an experimental study on the lateral performance of traditional timber columns. Considering different support boundary and ring beam covered on column top, four specimens were half-scaled fabricated and reversed cyclic tested. The influence of different support boundary and ring beam on the lateral performance of columns was evaluated. The tests indicated that columns rested on stone base had narrow hysteretic loops and negligible stiffness and strength degradation. Due to embedment deformation of timber beams, the hysteretic curves of columns supported on timber beams seriously pinched, the peak load of columns decreased more than 16%. With ring beam covered column top, significantly improvement was achieved in terms of the lateral load resisting capacity and deformability of timber columns. The peak load of columns was increased more than 49%, the displacement corresponding to the peak load increased about 75%.