Han et al. J Wood Sci (2021) 67:4 https://doi.org/10.1186/s10086-020-01939-3 Journal of Wood Science ORIGINAL ARTICLE Open Access Wind-induced vibration performance of early Chinese hall-style timber buildings Yidan Han, Qing Chun* and Hui Jin Abstract Traditional Chinese timber buildings are lightweight, fexible, and quite vulnerable to wind. This paper aims to present a methodology for evaluating the wind-induced vibration performance of early Chinese hall-style timber buildings based on numerical simulations. First, the architectural and structural characteristics of early Chinese hall-style timber buildings were presented and analyzed. It is found that the main hall of the Tianning Temple can be considered a representative to carry out the research. Second, the wind pressure coefcients of the main hall were determined via computational fuid dynamics (CFD) simulation. Finally, the time-series wind pressures were generated, and the wind-induced vibration performance was analyzed by the fnite-element method (FEM). The CFD simulation results show that the eave corners bear the maximum wind suction, and the windward pediment bears the maximum wind pressure. The FEM analysis has revealed that the lateral structural stifness in the depth direction is smaller. Under the depth-direction wind load, most of the large displacement occurs intensively at the middle part of the windward frames. The structural response is dominated mainly by the top three vibration modes. The time-series wind vibration coefcients are larger than the code values by a factor of 1.39–1.82. This study can provide a reference for evaluating the wind-induced vibration performance of early Chinese hall-style timber buildings. Keywords: Wind-induced vibration performance, Early Chinese timber building, Hall-style structure, Wind pressure coefcient, Wind vibration coefcient Introduction loads, many of these valuable timber buildings have A large number of examples of traditional timber archi- degraded. Traditional timber buildings are lightweight tecture are found in China. Tese structures are wide- and fexible and have weak resistance to lateral external spread around the country and once served as palaces, forces. It is common to fnd traditional timber buildings temples, ancestral halls, ofces and dwellings. Most of damaged under strong wind actions. In 2006, one ancient the existing architectural heritage in China is timber temple and nine ancient timber lounge bridges in Zheji- buildings. Statistically, 2162 major historical and cultural ang Province were seriously damaged in Super Typhoon sites are protected at the national level in China, 1513 of Saomai. In 2016, many traditional timber buildings in which are traditional timber buildings, accounting for Honglincuo, Fujian Province, were also damaged in Super 70% [1]. In addition, among all 37 UNESCO World Cul- Typhoon Nepartak, and four old timber lounge bridges tural Heritage sites in China, 16 are closely related to collapsed in Super Typhoon Meranti. In 2019, many tim- timber buildings [2]. Traditional timber buildings play a ber buildings on an ancient street in Wenling, Zhejiang vital role in the architectural history of China and nota- Province, sufered severely in Super Typhoon Lekima. All bly difer from traditional Western timber and masonry the above-mentioned damage happened in the southeast- buildings. Under natural disasters and long-term external ern coastal area, where many traditional timber buildings are distributed. Terefore, the accurate evaluation of the wind-resistance performance is an important issue for *Correspondence: [email protected] the scientifc conservation of traditional timber buildings. School of Architecture, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China © The Author(s) 2021. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creat iveco mmons .org/licen ses/by/4.0/. Han et al. J Wood Sci (2021) 67:4 Page 2 of 18 Traditional Chinese timber buildings are impressive roof shapes and in wind directions. Roy et al. [15] simu- due to their giant roof shapes with elegant designs and lated the wind feld of a pyramid-roof pentagonal build- exquisite craftsmanship. In addition to the common ing using Fluent, and they also discussed the wind feld double-pitch roof and the hip roof, there are also mul- characteristics and the wind pressure coefcients under tiple styles of complicated roof confgurations, such as diferent wind directions. the nine-edge roof and double-eave roof. Tese featured In summary, foreign studies have focused mainly on roof styles subsequently lead to the wind sensitivity of local timber buildings, whose architectural forms, mate- timber buildings. At present, research focusing on the rial properties, joint connection methods and structural wind pressure on buildings and the wind-resistance per- characteristics are quite distinct from those of traditional formance of traditional timber buildings is very limited. Chinese timber buildings. Moreover, Chinese studies A general review of the related literature in China is pre- have generally aimed at the wind-induced vibration of sented. Wu et al. [3] conducted a wind tunnel experiment high-rise timber buildings such as pagodas or low-rise on an archaized timber pagoda, and the wind pressure buildings with regular roof styles. Regarding the struc- coefcients applicable for the pagoda were proposed. Li tural conservation of traditional Chinese timber build- et al. [4] performed a wind vibration calculation for the ings, there is no mature standard or guideline. Scarce Yingxian Timber Pagoda with the mode analysis method references for wind-resistance studies also limit the sci- and obtained wind vibration coefcients for the pagoda. entifc practice of renovation or preventive protection. In An FEM analysis of the main hall of the Baoguo Temple this paper, the wind-induced vibration performance of was carried out by Han and Chun [5], and the dynamic early Chinese hall-style timber buildings is systematically and static behavior of the main hall was compared and studied in detail. Te architectural and structural charac- discussed. Liu [6] simulated the wind feld around the teristics of early Chinese hall-style timber buildings are Hall of Supreme Harmony built in the Qing Dynasty with presented, and the wind pressure coefcients of a hall- diferent wind velocities and directions and obtained the style timber building were determined via CFD simula- wind pressure coefcients of the roof. Similar work was tion. Ten, time-series wind pressures are generated, and also performed by Yang [7] on an archaized timber build- the wind-induced vibration performance of the building ing with the style of the Tang Dynasty, and reference val- is analyzed by FEM. ues of the wind pressure coefcients were proposed. Outside China, there are also some researchers with Early Chinese hall‑style timber buildings interest in the wind-resistance performance of timber Architectural and structural characteristics buildings. Hanazato et al. [8] introduced a new monitor- Te earliest timber building existing in China was built ing technique for the long-term wind-induced response in the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618–907), but the number of the fve-storied pagoda, which is one of the most of existing buildings of the Tang Dynasty is quite small. important architectural timber structures in Japan. Zisis Timber buildings built in the Song and Yuan Dynasties [9] studied the wind-induced vibration performance (A.D. 960–1368) account for a large proportion of the of residential timber buildings normally seen in North existing traditional timber buildings, of which hall-style America with experimental and numerical methods. buildings make up the main part. In the old book Ying Malone et al. [10] established an FEM of a local timber Zao Fa Shi written by the well-known architect Li Jie building with pinned connection joints with the soft- in the Song Dynasty, there are 19 drawings of hall-style ware SAP2000 (Structural Analysis Program 2000) and buildings, implying the importance of this structural achieved force-transferring paths under wind action. In style. Two examples of hall-style buildings are shown the study presented by Morrison [11], particular atten- in Fig. 1. Te main characteristic of the hall style is that tion was given to the failure modes of a low-rise building inner columns are obviously taller than outer columns; during a wind tunnel test. He et al. [12] proposed an FEM thus, it provides a higher central space for worship. Ding- analysis method for evaluating the mechanical behavior tougong, a type of connection of beam and column, is of the whole structure and the connection performance widely used in hall-style buildings and contributes to of members in a lightweight timber frame building under good structural