Seismic vulnerability assessment of historical timber temples: a case study of the Hanging Temple in China

Hanging Temple, one of the representatives of traditional wooden structure architectural heritage in northern China, is affixed to the cliff and closely connected to the rock wall. This complicates its structural analysis due to uneven foundation height and irregular lateral stiffness. This paper adopts a simplified simulation method based on Shear plastic hinge Dougong (DG), modified mortise-tenon joint (MTJ), and compressive constitutive model of wood for the example of a Hanging Temple in northern China. A finite element model of the Hanging Temple was established based on the results of field research and mapping. Its structural dynamic response to rare earthquakes was studied in depth to assess the structure's seismic performance. The results show that the simplified simulation method can accurately and effectively simulate the plastic behavior of DG and MTJ. Under the 3D ground motion excitation, the structural deformation and stresses were mainly concentrated at the foundations' embedded end, especially the dynamic response of the bottom column end and the cantilever beams at all levels was most significant. The Hanging Temple's force situation differs from that of general wooden structures. The existence of cantilever beams leads to the vertical asymmetry of the structure, which causes the uneven distribution of stiffness (the Y-direction stiffness is much smaller than the X-direction stiffness), and the middle columns, which are connected to multiple beams and DG, become the main distribution points of stiffness, and are subject to larger eccentric loads and tensile stresses, especially at the top of the columns where they are connected to the DG. They take up more internal forces to transfer and disperse the seismic forces. Historical wooden structures are a significant part of the world's architectural heritage. Establishing an accurate seismic performance assessment model to evaluate these historical buildings is still challenging. This study provides an effective method and basis for seismic performance assessment and modeling of ancient wooden structures.