In-plane behavior of Chuan-Dou style wooden frames with infill under cyclic loading

Chuan-Dou style wooden frames (CDWFs) with different infill are used widely for residential buildings in Southwest China due to their cost-effectiveness and ease of construction. Four full-scale samples of CDWF were laboratory tested to study the contribution of different infills on its seismic behavior. They are two bare wooden frames, a frame with wooden panel infills and a frame with brick masonry infills. One bare wooden frame was subjected to monotonic load to determine the reference displacement for the in-plane Cyclic loading test in the other frame samples. The damage characteristics, ultimate lateral load carrying capacity, hysteretic behavior, stiffness degradation, strength degradation and energy dissipation were investigated. Test results indicated that the CDWF has exceptional ductility to lateral movement and good energy dissipation capacity. Both the wooden panel infill and brick masonry infill increase the lateral load resistance, lateral stiffness and energy dissipation of the CDWF system. The contribution of masonry infills to the improvement of lateral resistance capacity of wooden frames is much greater than that of wooden panel infills.