Dynamic responses on traditional Chinese timber multi-story building with high platform base under earthquake excitations

The multi-story timber structure with high platform base is one of the important architectural types in the traditional Chinese buildings. To study the dynamic characteristics and seismic responses on this kind of traditional structure, the 3-D finite element models of Xi'an drum tower which included the high platform base, upper timber structure and whole structure was established considering the structural form and material performance parameters of the structure in this study. By the modal analysis, the main frequencies and mode shapes of this kind of traditional building were obtained and investigated. The three kinds of earthquake excitations included El-Centro wave, Taft wave and Lanzhou wave were separately imposed on the upper timber structure model and the overall structure model, and the seismic responses on the tops of columns were analyzed. The results of time history analysis show that the seismic response of the upper timber structure is obviously amplified by high platform base. After considering the effect of high platform base, the mean value on the lateral displacement increments of the top column in the overall structure is more than 20.478% and the increase of dynamic coefficients was all above 0.818 under the above three different earthquake excitations. Obviously, it shows that the existence of high platform base has a negative influence on the seismic responses of upper timber structure. And the high platform base will directly affect the safety of the upper timber structure. Therefore, the influence of high platform base on the dynamic response of its upper timber structure cannot be neglected.