Shaking table test and numerical analyses of a multi-story traditional tower-style building

The traditional tower-style building (TTSB) is an innovative structural form constructed in modern cities imitating the overall appearance of ancient timber pagodas, and it is an extraordinarily cultured high-rise construction. The limited stipulations for high-rise TTSBs in the seismic design code pose challenges in assessing the reliable performance of the unique structure subjected to severe earthquakes. This paper presents the shaking table test and numerical analyses of a 1/15-scale 13-story TTSB specimen with an integral tower height of 5.36 m, which is a steel frame-braced core-tube structure consisting of seven bright floors (built-out stories evident from the outside, BF) and six dim floors (built-in stories not apparent from the outside, DF), with transition columns and stiffening trusses around the exterior perimeter. The experimental results showed that the tested tower-style building had excellent seismic performance and reliable structural integrity. It only experienced minor damage when subjected to extremely high-intensity motions. The interstory drift, dynamic strain, and floor acceleration response of the core-tube region with eccentric steel braces were more significant under severe excitation than those with cross-centered symmetric steel braces. The vertical reaction increased at the upper floor of the tower under vertical acceleration, and differences in the dynamic response of the middle and upper floors were much more apparent after the test. Moreover, 3D numerical simulation models of the tested tower were established and validated against the test responses. Successively, the validated numerical model was used to investigate the influence of the transition column at different floors on the peak interstory drift response and the relevant strain distribution, and the proposal for a proper position of the transition column was recommended at the end.