Structural Assessment of Bhutanese Traditional Buildings

Abstract

Rammed earth construction practice in Bhutan is distinctive with its own architectural necessities and specifications. It cabinets the country’s rich culture meanwhile preserves the traditional culture of Bhutan. The construction practice is grounded based upon the past knowledge of the craftsmen and their thumb rules. Hence, a traditionally built structures are very probable to experience unanticipated structural failure during its life time due to non-engineered practice of construction.

Therefore, it is essential to make buildings structurally safe under various unexpected load. This is realized by formulation of design aids to guide the construction of traditional rammed earth buildings. It is necessary to assess the present constructional practice and structural defects of the building and to accomplish this, so seven rammed earth buildings in Wangchang Gewog in Paro Dzongkhag were surveyed. Structural defects and design of each building was recorded from which cracks and uneconomical arrangement of joist was the most prominent drawback found on the buildings.

Numerous probabilities of adapting and refining the present buildings were carried out with reference to the possible causes of defects and shortfalls composed from several data from different sources and frequent site visits. Based on the collected data and literature reviews, a design charts for joist spacing and rafter was plotted, and a structural stress modelling with several parameters and considerations were conducted.