Finite-element model updating of the traditional beam–column joint in Tibetan heritage buildings using uniform design

The Que-Ti joint is the traditional beam–column connection in Tibetan heritage buildings and plays an important role in bearing and transferring load. The structure of the Que-Ti joint is very complicated, which makes it very difficult to build a refined solid model during the numerical simulation process. This means that a simplified model of the Que-Ti joint is required. In this article, we propose a finite-element model updating technique based on uniform design and apply this to the finite-element model updating of the Que-Ti joint. A simplified model of the joint was simulated using two uncertain parameters, and by constructing the uniform design matrix, the specific size of each component within the simplified model was then determined. The stress state of the simplified model was compared to the refined solid model, with results indicating that the stress and strain response of the simplified model had a small rate of error when compared with the refined solid model, which confirmed that the finite-element model updating based on the uniform design was effective and that the simplified model of the Que-Ti joint could be applied to the analysis of the structure as whole. A field measurement was also conducted to further verify the numerical simulation. This investigation provides essential information for the structural analysis of Tibetan heritage buildings.