Seismic performance evaluation of traditional timber Hımış frames: capacity spectrum method based assessment

Timber constructions have been widely suggested to be seismically resistant based on post-disaster reconnaissance studies. This observation has, however, remained to a large extent anecdotal due to the lack of experimental work supporting it, especially for certain timber architectural forms, including traditional timber frame “ hımış ” structures. To fill this gap, the authors carried out an extensive full-scale testing scheme using frames of various geometrical configurations, tested under reverse-cyclic lateral loading with/without infill (brick and adobe) or cladding ( bağdadi and şamdolma ) (Aktas et al. in Earthq Spectra 30(4):1711–1732, 2014a , b ). The tests concluded that hımış frames had high energy dissipation capabilities due mostly to nailed connections. Infill/cladding significantly helped improve stiffness and lateral load strength of the frames, and timber type did not seem to make a remarkable impact on the overall behaviour. The current paper, on the other hand, uses test data to calculate capacity/demand ratios based on capacity spectrum method and Eurocode 8 to elaborate more on the performance of “ hımış ” structures under seismic loading. The obtained results are discussed to draw important conclusions with regards to how frame geometry and infill/cladding techniques affect the overall performance.