Experimental Study on Tenon and Mortise Joints of Wood-Structure Houses Reinforced by Innovative Metal Dampers
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear authors,
Your experimental study contributes to better protection and improvement of the seismic performance of traditional Chinese wooden houses and traditional Chinese mortise and tenon joints by applying the innovative metal damper.
Figure 3: in my opinion, it is also important to know the dimensions of the holes for the screws, as well as their distances, by which the damper is attached to the wooden elements.
My important comment is about the dumper shape. It is generally known that a sharp angle or a sudden change in shape causes an area of stress concentration and therefore a point of damage. You surely know that such an area of stress concentration can be shown very simply by the FEM model. You should have taken this assumption into account already during your first innovative dumper design.
In general, I rate the methodology of the experiment as correct. The results are appropriately interpreted.
Best regards.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The topic of the research work and manuscript is really interesting, well-prepared and provides new information. However there are several issues to be addressed towards its quality improvement before publication.
The kewy words include large phrases which would not rather be searched by the readers (in my opinion, key words should be targeted words, not complicated phrases). In line 36, the "regraded" should be probably corected. The authors could implement a more thorough literature review in order to describe properly the state-of-the-art of this field. The introduction section could be improved in this direction. In 100-104, please provide the reference for these statements/findings. The authors are recommended to incorporate as well the relevant study (examining mortise and tenon) entitled "Strength of corner and middle joints of upholstered furniture frames constructed with black locust and beech wood" to support the literature review in introduction. In the end of introduction, you could provide the aim of this work since most readers would anticipate to be informed about the objectives of the specific study. Is is also logical after the presentation of the state-of-the-art and gap in literature, the scope/aims of this paper to follow. Please provide in materials-metods chapter crucial information such as the wood species used and its origin. The term "Penetrated tenon" seems not to be appropriate (since all of them are penetrated). It would be probably more suitable to use the terms "haunched" or "shouldered" for such a tenon form. In case of the cylindrical element, how did you manufacture them (did you use lathe tool or you use of smaller diameter trunks/branches?). Generally, for each part of the methodology and materials (tools, devices, raw materials of the elements), please provide more information (in order another researcher to be able to easily repeat the experimental work). The figures of the destroyed joint specimens could be moved in results section. The figures and graphs are very helpful and gother the results in a useful and comprehensive way, though I could not find any statistical analysis of the results. Please provide at least the standard deviation values in the graphs if possible. You should also highlight the significance of these findings and specify the relevant potential applications of these joints in conclusions section.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
As I have checked the authors have implemented the proposed changes in the revised verion of manuscript towards the improvement of their work. Almost all the changes have been implemented and in my opinion, the manuscript is well-prepared and organized enough to be accepted for publication in this journal.
