Wudang Ancient Buildings

THE palaces and temples of the ancient building complex in the Wudang Mountains exemplify the architectural and artistic achievements of China＇s secular and religious buildings of the Yuan （1279-1368）. Ming （1368- 1644） and Qing （1644-1911） dynasties. Towering mountains and deep valleys are partnered with nearby woods, rocks and streams, presenting a harmonious picturesque fusion of man-made architecture and nature.

Combustion Properties of Textiles Applied in Tibet Ancient Buildings and Their Clean Flame Retarding Designs

In the Tibet ancient buildings, there are large amounts of combustible decorative textiles that pose great potential fire hazards. Some typical textile samples were collected from the Potala Palace. Their combustion properties were analyzed by UL 94 Vertical Burning test and Limiting Oxygen Index test. The effects of plateau climate on combustion properties, an important fact required to be considered in the flame retarding design for combustible textiles, were preliminarily compared via test data in the plain and those in the plateau. Based on the foregoing analyses, some thoughts were presented on the clean and feasible flame retarding means for the decorative textiles due to their special applications in Tibet, in ancient buildings and in plateau climate. The fire resistance, weather resistance, UV resistance, endurance, ornamentation and religious performances for these textiles must be taken into considerations comprehensively in the designs.

Study on the Protection and Renovation of Ancient Buildings in Likeng

As a famous historical and cultural city of China, and one of the ecological conservation experimental plots of Huizhou culture, Likeng owns many cultural units under state and local protection. The paper elaborated the significance and principles of protecting ancient buildings in Likeng, analyzed the restoration principles and technical schemes. Through analyzing the protection of ancient buildings in Likeng, the rationality of protection, and the balance between protection and development was proposed, and protection of the projects in the national historic and cultural heritage list, cultural relics protection units at all levels, famous historic and cultural cities was introduced.

Temperature effect on the structural strains of an ancient Tibetan building based on long-term monitoring data

Many studies have indicated that structural strain will be significantly influenced by temperature variations,and a good understanding of the effect of temperature on structural strain is essential.A structural health monitoring system has been installed in a typical Tibetan timber building to measure the structural strains and ambient temperature since 2012.This paper presents the correlation between temperature and strain data from the monitored structure.A method combining singular spectrum analysis and polynomial regression is proposed for modeling the temperature induced strains in the structure.Singular spectrum analysis is applied to smooth the temperature data,and the correlation between the resulting temperature time series and the measured strains is obtained by polynomial regression.Parameters of the singular spectrum analysis and the regression model are selected to have the least regression error.Results show that the proposed method has both good reproduction and prediction capabilities for temperature induced strains,and that the method is accurate and effective for eliminating the effect of temperature from the measured strain.A standardized Novelty Index based on the residual strain is also used for the condition assessment of the structure.

A Review of Applied Methods of Using Solar Energy in Iranian Buildings

Solar energy is the radiant light and heat from the Sun that has been harnessed by human since ancient times. Also secondary solar resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectric power and biomass account for most of the available renewable energy on Earth, which can be used by human. Architects since alacient times have used various methods to hamesse and employ the solar energy for lighting, cooling and heating and etc. Meanwhile, Iran＇s ancient architecture, as an adaptive one, which consists of various climatic reigns, is filled with abounding examples of using sun energy in buildings. But, unfortunately despite these ancient methods, our modern architects mostly tend to provide energy of buildings with fossil fuels. This increases energy costs of the building＇s and also pollutes the environment. In this article it is intended to consider the ancient ways of using solar energy in Iran, and then suggest new methods for applying in modem buildings. The results of consideration show that among Solar technologies, passive and active methods, Iran＇s ancient architects have used passive methods, for example in mass and space, orientation and settlement of building. The idea of passive methods can be used in new shapes in current buildings, for instance by using solar space, central yard and etc. The suggestive method in this paper is combining the passive methods with the active ones.