Experimental Research on Mechanical Properties of Timber in Ancient Tibetan Building
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 24, Issue 6
Abstract
The mechanical property of timber is a prerequisite for the evaluation of ancient timber structures. The main mechanical properties of three kinds of timber including the old Tibetan Populus cathayana, new Tibetan Populus cathayana and new Tibetan Pine were obtained by tests in this paper. The principles and assumptions made in the determination of these strengths and the time-dependent laws on the design strength of timber in ancient Tibetan structures were discussed. It is found that the physical and mechanical properties of Tibetan Populus cathayana have degraded greatly after hundreds of years. The strength degradation of a structural component can be attributed to the decay and cracking of timber when the stress ratio is low while it can be attributed to the creep of timber caused by the load duration effect when the stress ratio is high. The new Tibetan Pine is also checked to be a good material for the restoration of ancient Tibetan building due to its higher strength compared to the old Populus timber.
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Acknowledgments
The work described in this paper was supported by a research grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.51178028 & No.50938008) and the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (No.8092024).
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Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 24 • Issue 6 • June 2012
Pages: 635 - 643
Copyright
© 2012. American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 1, 2010
Accepted: Dec 1, 2011
Published online: Dec 3, 2011
Published in print: Jun 1, 2012
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