Shaking Table Test on 1/2-Scale Model of Column-and-Tie Timber Structure Filled with Wooden Walls

To study the influence of wooden walls on the seismic performance of traditional Chinese column-and-tie timber structures, two 1/2-scale two-story and two-span timber structure models were fabricated. The infill wall was not installed in model 1, while model 2 deployed wooden walls for comparison. The damage characteristics, seismic responses, and energy dissipation behaviors of the two models under the seismic ground motions of varying intensity were obtained through shaking table tests. The comparative analyses of the seismic performance of the two models indicated that the pull-out length of the tenon and the slippage degree of the column foot of model 1 were greater than those of model 2 with the same input. Moreover, the first natural frequency of model 2 was greater than that of model 1 due to the existence of the wooden walls, and the stiffness degradation rate of model 2 was lower than that of model 1. The first damping ratio of model 1 was between 10.2% and 15.0%, and that of model 2 was between 9.3% and 21.9%. The acceleration amplification factors of the two models were basically less than 1, which was significantly different from regular reinforced concrete structures or steel structures. When the input peak ground acceleration reached 0.22g (the maximum considered earthquake for the region with intensity seven), the maximum story drifts of the two models were 1/47 and 1/59, respectively, which met the story drift limit of 1/30 for timber frames in the Chinese Seismic Code for Timber Structures. The lateral stiffness of model 2 increased because of the existence of the wooden walls when compared with model 1. The energy dissipation of model 2 was greater than that of model 1 under the same earthquake excitation in terms of the deformation of the wooden walls and squeezing interaction between the timber frame and wooden walls.