Seismic Failure Pattern Prediction in a Historical Masonry Minaret under Different Earthquakes

Abstract

Historicalstructuresarethevaluesthatareofgreatimportancetothatcountry,showingtherootsofacountry,andmustbepassed onfromgenerationtogeneration.Thisstudyattemptstomakeacontributiontothisgoal.Seismicdamagepatternestimationina historical brick masonry minaret under different ground motion levels is investigated by using updated finite element models basedonambientvibrationdatainthisstudy.ImaretMosquewhichwasbuiltin1481ADisselectedforanapplication.Surveying measurementandmaterialtestswereconductedtoobtaina3Dsolidmodelandmechanicalpropertiesofthecomponentsofthe minaret. Firstly, the initial 3D finite element model of the minaret was analyzed and numerical dynamic characteristics of the minaretwereobtained. Then,ambientvibrationtestsaswell asoperationalmodalanalysiswereimplementedinordertoobtain theexperimentaldynamiccharacteristicsoftheminaret.Theinitialfiniteelementmodeloftheminaretwasupdatedbyusingthe experimental dynamic results. Lastly, linear and nonlinear time-history analyses of the updated finite element model of the minaretwerecarriedoutusingtheaccelerationrecordsoftwodifferentlevelearthquakesthatoccurredinTurkey,inAfyon-Dinar (1995) and Çay-Sultanda˘gı (2002). A concrete damage plasticity model is considered in the nonlinear analyses. The conducted analysesindicatethatthecompressiveandtensionstressresultsofthelinearanalysesarenotasrealisticasthenonlinearanalysis results.Accordingtothenonlinearanalysis,theÇay-Sultanda˘gıearthquakewouldinflictlimiteddamageontheminaret,whereas the Dinar earthquake would damage some parts of the elements in the transition segment of the minaret.