LAUSR

Abstract Wood is mainly subjected to transverse compression in many critical parts of Chinese traditional timber structures, e.g. the mortise-tenon and Dou-Gong joints. Seismic is one of the dynamic actions faced by these structures and will cause wood to suffer higher loading speeds than quasi-static loads. The investigation of the seismic strain rates (SSRs) effects of wood under perpendicular-to-grain compression (PTGc) is important. One hundred and forty-four radial small clear wood specimens were prepared using Dahurian larch, Mongolian pine and Chinese poplar. Monotonic and cyclic compression tests were conducted under three SSRs (10−3 s−1, 10−2 s−1, and 10−1 s−1) and the quasi-static strain rate (10−4 s−1). Failure modes, stress-strain curves, yield strengths, elastic moduli and the unloading/reloading moduli were analyzed. Results indicated that the PTGc properties were highly sensitive to SSRs under both the monotonic and cyclic compression. Strengths showed higher sensitivity to SSRs than elastic moduli. The SSRs effects of wood under cyclic compression have greater variability than the monotonic counterparts. The unloading/reloading moduli shows little SSR effects statistically. Comparisons were made between the existing PTG and the parallel-to-grain test results and a fitted general expression was obtained. Furthermore, an SSR-dependent stress-strain model was proposed and verified by tests.