Enhancing the seismic performance of historic timber buildings in Asia by applying super-elastic alloy to a Chinese complex bracket system

Historic timber structures widely distributed in East Asia are suffering from the earthquakes. This article aims to develop a technique to enhance the seismic performance of historic timber buildings with the Dou-Gon system. High-strength steel bars and super-elastic alloy bars are used in this study to benchmark conventional Dou-Gon system that uses wood pegs to connect the base Dou and the column. Pushover tests were carried out under different loading conditions. The factors discussed in this study include vertical load imposed on the Dou-Gon system and the pre-strained levels of super-elastic bars. The results from this study has shown that the simple technique enhances the energy dissipation capacity and the ultimate strength of the base Dou-Gon system. Base Dou-Gon system with super-elastic alloy bar connections also show a better aseismic performance due to its constant damping behavior and longer fatigue life. Moreover, pre-strain of the super-elastic alloy bar provides a better damping behavior to the base Dou system.