Study on Seismic Performance of Rammed Earth Buildings with Bamboo Truss Connecting Longitudinal and Transverse Walls

Rammed earth buildings have the advantages of thermal insulation and environmental-friendly characteristics. However, they are vulnerable to damage during earthquake. To improve the seismic performance of rammed earth buildings with economical and feasible measures, the shaking table test and numerical simulation were applied to study rammed earth buildings’ seismic performance when longitudinal and transverse walls are connected with bamboo trusses. The results show that without truss and the seismic horizontal incident angle θ = 0°, the maximum variations of the acceleration, displacement, horizontal axial force, and moment appear in the middle of the transverse wall. The maximum variations of the vertical axial force and moment appear in the bottom of the transverse wall. Then, the application of the bamboo truss at H2 (the second height) to connect longitudinal and transverse walls makes the maximum acceleration, displacement, and inner forces at the transverse walls decrease significantly. The maximum of the acceleration, the displacement, the axial force’s variation and the maximum of the moment’s variation are decreased by 25%, 30%, 58% and 78% at the transverse walls’ L1. These maximum variations move from the transverse wall to the longitudinal wall when θ changes from 0° to 90°. The variations of axial force in the truss are significant, and the influences of truss location and θ are not obvious. The shaking table test and numerical simulation results show favorable consistency. The rammed earth buildings’ collapse in the shaking table test and in earthquakes is consistent with each other. The results demonstrate that the truss connection between longitudinal and transverse walls can improve rammed earth buildings’ seismic performance significantly.