Experimental study on seismic performance of cross-shaped half-tenon joint reinforced by angle in traditional dwellings

In order to study the seismic behavior of cross-shaped half-tenon joints in traditional timber dwellings, pseudo-static tests of one 1/1.33 scale half-tenon joint and four other 1/1.33 scale joints reinforced by angle with different design parameters were carried out. These joints were designed based on western Sichuan engineering practice. The seismic behaviors of the joints such as failure mode, moment-rotation hysteresis and skeleton curves, rigidity and energy dissipation capacity were obtained. The results indicate that the unreinforced joint tenon fails in a pulling-out manner, and the hysteresis curve has obvious pinching effect. The failure mode of the reinforced joint is changed with the tenon restrained, and the tenon is broken off with large deformation of the angles, and the hysteresis curve is relatively plump. The stiffness, deformation and bearing capacity of the reinforced joints are significantly improved, however, the energy dissipation is not significantly reduced compared with the unreinforced joint. The improvement of the negative bearing capacity is more obvious than that in the positive direction for the reinforced specimen with a single-sided angle, while both the positive and negative bearing capacity of the reinforced specimens with two-sided angles are basically the same. The stiffness of the single-side reinforced specimen is slightly smaller than that of the two-side reinforced specimen. The improvement of the stiffness of the reinforced specimen is more obvious with the increase in the angle thickness, while the length of the angle limb has little influence on the stiffness of the specimen. © 2021, Editorial Office of Journal of Building Structures. All right reserved.