Shaking table test of unretrofitted and retrofitted brick-wood structures representative of existing rural buildings in Beijing.

This paper presents seismic retrofit for the single-story brick-wood structure representative of existing rural buildings in Beijing. The retrofitting effectiveness was examined through large-scale shaking table tests on the unretrofitted and retrofitted specimens. The test results indicate that, for the unretrofitted specimen, the front brick columns deform and damage severely when subjected to the longitudinal motions, because large of lateral stiffnesses difference exists between the front and back longitudinal walls. The brick gables experience significant out-of-plane deformation, resulting in diagonal cracks. The unretrofitted specimen is cracked under minor earthquakes, significantly damaged under design basis earthquakes, and approaches to collapse under rare earthquakes. The method of seismic retrofit was proposed based on the test results of the unretrofitted specimen, including the addition of a steel doorframe, steel window frames and steel plate collar beams, and the strengthening of the brick gables and columns by cement mortar reinforced with steel mesh. Shaking table test results show that the retrofit method significantly improves the earthquake-resistant capacity of the brick-wood building structure, and the retrofitted specimen can achieve the design objective of 'operational under minor earthquakes, repairable damage under design basis earthquakes, and collapse prevention under rare earthquakes'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]