• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.339-352
• /
• 2015

Ancient masonry towers constitute a relevant part of the cultural heritage of humanity. Their earthquake protection is a topic of great concern among researchers due to the strong damage suffered by these brittle and massive structures through the history. The identification of the seismic behavior and failure of towers under seismic loading is complex. This strongly depends on many factors such as soil characteristics, geometry, mechanical properties of masonry and heavy mass, as well as the earthquake frequency content. A deep understanding of these aspects is the key for the correct seismic vulnerability evaluation of towers and to design the most suitable retrofitting measure. Recent tendencies on the seismic retrofitting of historical structures by means of prestressing are related to the use of smart materials. The most famous cases of application of prestressing in towers were discussed. Compared to horizontal prestressing, vertical post-tensioning is aimed at improving the seismic behavior of towers by reducing damage with the application of an overall distribution of compressive stresses at key locations.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.59 no.3
• /
• pp.539-558
• /
• 2016

Minarets are almost the inevitable part of Mosques in Islam and according to some, from a philosophical point of view, today they symbolize the spiritual elevation of man towards God. Due to slenderness, minarets are susceptible to earthquakes and wind loads. They are mostly built in a masonry style by using cut limestone blocks or occasionally by using bricks. In this study, one minaret (M1 Minaret) of one of the charmest mosques of Turkey, Sultan Ahmed Mosque, popularly known as Blue Mosque, built between 1609 and 1616 on the order of Sultan Ahmed by the architect Mehmet Agha is investigated under some registered earthquake loads. According to historical records, a great earthquake hit Istanbul and/or its close proximity approximately every 250 years. Ottomans tackled with the problem of building earthquake resistant, slender minarets by starting to use forged iron connectors with lead as a filler to fix them to the upper and lower and to adjacent stones instead of using traditional mortar only. Thus, the discrete stones are able to transfer tensile forces in some sense. This study investigates the contribution of lead to the energy absorption capacity of the minaret under extensive earthquakes occurred in the region. By using the software ANSYS/LS-DYNA in modelling and investigating the minaret nonlinearly, it is found out that under very big recorded earthquakes, the connectors of vertical cast iron-lead mechanism play very important role and help to keep the structure safe.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.1 no.4
• /
• pp.371-390
• /
• 2010

Historical buildings in seismically active regions are severely damaged by earthquakes, since they certainly were not designed by the original builders to withstand seismic effects. In particular the reports after major ground motions indicate that earthquake-induced pounding between buildings may lead to substantial damage or even collapse of colliding structures. The research on structural pounding during earthquakes has been recently much advanced, although most of the studies are conducted on simplified single degree of freedom systems. In this paper a detailed pounding-involved response analysis of three adjacent structures is performed, concerning the main bodies of the "Quinto Orazio Flacco" school. The construction includes a main masonry building, with an M-shaped plan, and a reinforced concrete building, separated from the masonry one and realized along its free perimeter. By the analysis of the capacity curves obtained by suitable pushover procedures performed separately for each building, it emerges that masonry and reinforced concrete buildings are vulnerable to earthquake-induced structural pounding in the longitudinal direction. In particular, due to the geometric configuration of the school, a special case of impact between the reinforced concrete structure and two parts of the masonry building occurs. In order to evaluate the pounding-involved response of three adjacent structures, in this paper a numerical procedure is proposed, programmed using MATLAB software. Both a non-linear viscoelastic model to simulate impact and an elastic-perfectly plastic approximation of the storey shear force-drift relation are assumed, differently from many commercial softwares which admit just one non-linearity.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.62 no.5
• /
• pp.643-649
• /
• 2017

Masonry walls are amongst the oldest building systems. A large portion of the research on these structures focuses on the load-bearing walls. Numerical methods have been generally used in modelling load-bearing walls during recent years. In this context, macro and micro modelling techniques emerge as widely accepted techniques. Micro modelling is used to investigate the local behaviour of load-bearing walls in detail whereas macro modelling is used to investigate the general behaviour of masonry buildings. The main objective of this study is to investigate the elastic behaviour of the load- bearing walls in masonry buildings by using micro modelling technique. In order to do this the brick and mortar units of the masonry walls are modelled by the combination of plane truss elements and plane frame elements with no shear deformations. The model used in this study has fewer unknowns then the models encountered in the references. In this study the vertical frame elements have equivalent elasticity modulus and moment of inertia which are calculated by the developed software. Under in-plane static loads the elastic displacements of the masonry walls, which are encountered in literature, are calculated by the developed software, where brick units are modelled by plane frame elements, horizontal joints are modelled by vertical frame elements and vertical joints are modelled by horizontal plane truss elements. The calculated results are compatible with those given in the references.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.207-223
• /
• 2013

Practical seismic assessment and design of retrofit for the multitude of small ecclesiastical monuments that abound in the Balkans is the subject of this work. Application of the proposed procedures and methodologies are illustrated in an example case study, a small byzantine church located in Western Greece, which is the region with the highest seismicity in Europe. The church, known as the Fragavilla Monastery, had remained almost undamaged for 800 years, until 1993 when the Pyrgos earthquake caused critical damage mainly in the vaults. Linear elastic analysis to the recorded ground motion, capped by a biaxial failure criterion reproduced the developed damage. The same modelling and analysis procedure was subsequently used for assessment of the intended retrofitting measures. Proposed retrofitting measures included mitigation of the undesirable implications of past interventions along with a combination of strengthening schemes with externally bonded AFRPs strategically placed in the structure. The effectiveness of the proposed solutions is gauged by successful reduction of stress intensity in the critical regions and mitigation of stress localization throughout the structure.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.321-335
• /
• 2020

The aim of the present contribution is to consider and underline the essential interactions among the historical knowledge, the seismic vulnerability assessment, the investigation experimental tools, the preservation of the architectural quality and the strengthening design in regard to architectural heritage conservation. These topics are argued in relation to Palazzo Murena in Perugia, designed in the eighteenth century by the famous Architect Luigi Vanvitelli, and currently headquarters of the city's University. Based on the surveys and the visual inspections, a preliminary a priori global analysis has been performed by means of the FME method. The obtained results permitted to plan an experimental tests campaign inclusive of structural health monitoring. The new achieved "knowledge" of the building allowed to refine the seismic safety assessment. In particular it was highlighted that the "mezzanine floor" can be a vulnerable element of the building with the collapse of its masonry walls. Preserving the architectural characteristics, a local reinforcement intervention is proposed for the above-mentioned level; this consists of the application of plaster with FRCM, assuring an adequate strength, without burden the masonry structure with additional weight, and therefore a decreasing of the seismic vulnerability. The necessity to consider, in this ongoing research, other local mechanisms is highlighted in the unfolding of the last part of work.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.719-733
• /
• 2015

Seismic risk management of the built environment is integrated by two main stages, the assessment and the remedial measures to attain its reduction, representing both stages a complex task. The seismic risk of a certain structure located in a seismic zone is determined by the conjunct of the seismic hazard and its structural vulnerability. The hazard level mainly depends on the proximity of the site to a seismic source. On the other hand, the ground shaking depends on the seismic source, geology and topography of the site, but definitely on the inherent earthquake characteristics. Seismic hazard characterization of a site under study is suggested to be estimated by a combination of studies with the history of earthquakes. In this Paper, the most important methods of seismic vulnerability evaluation of buildings and their application are described. The selection of the most suitable method depends on different factors such as number of buildings, importance, available data and aim of the study. These approaches are classified in empirical, analytical, experimental and hybrid. For obtaining more reliable results, it is recommends applying a hybrid approach, which consists of a combination between methods depending on the case. Finally, a recommended approach depending on the building importance and aim of the study is described.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.367-376
• /
• 2014

Ambient vibration techniques are nowadays a very popular tool to assess dynamic properties of buildings. Due to its non destructive character, this method is particularly valuable, especially for health monitoring of historical monuments. The present ambient vibration experiment consists on the evaluation of vibration modes of a Medieval tower. Situated in Soncino (close to Cremona, in the Northern Italian region named Lombardia), the tower of 41.5 meters height has been monitored by seismometers located at different points inside the structure. Spectral ratios of the recorded ambient vibrations clearly identify a fundamental mode at about 1 Hz, with a slight difference in the two horizontal components. A second mode is also evidenced at approx 4-5 Hz, with a moderate degree of uncertainty. The records of a ML 4.4 earthquake, occurred during the monitoring period, confirm the information obtained by microtremor analysis. Daily variations of both 1st and 2nd mode were detected: these variations, of an amount up to 2%, seem to be well related with the temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.71-77
• /
• 2003

Generally the dynamic characteristics of stone wall structures depend on several factors such as contact, the type of interlocking bonding stones, and the filling materials. This paper describes a non-destructive technique for diagnosis of historic masonry stone structures using the measurement of natural frequency technique. For this purpose, the castle wall of Nag-An Folk Town located in Sunchon, Korea was selected as a model. The Nag-An Town Castle is one of the well maintained historical remains constructed in the Chosun Kingdom of Korea. The construction started in 1397 A.D and was finished in 1626 A.D. The non-mortar castle wall is 1470m long and the average height is 4m with a width of 3 4m. The exterior of the wall is bonded with 1 2 m rectangular rough-faced stone and the inside of the wall is filled with gravel. The traditional village still remains inside the Nag-An Town Castle, and they have a regional food festival every October. Transverse vibrations were measured at 8 points around the castle. The measured natural frequency of the first mode was 26Hz 41Hz, and the shear modulus of filling material was 2.142 x $10^3$ ~ 8.915 x $10^3$kgf/$cm^2$ . With these results, it may be assumed that the filling material is gravel or a sand-gravel mixture. It is expected that the information provided by this paper will be useful for addressing the maintenance problems of the old castle walls.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.247-259
• /
• 2008

The potential use of Cu-based shape memory alloys (SMA) in retrofitting historical monuments is investigated in this paper. This study is part of the ongoing work conducted in Tunisia within the framework of the FP6 European Union project (WIND-CHIME) on the use of appropriate modern seismic protective systems in the conservation of Mediterranean historical buildings in earthquake-prone areas. The present investigation consists of a finite element simulation, as a preliminary to an experimental study where a cantilever masonry wall, representing a part of a historical monument, is subjected to monotonic and quasi-static cyclic loadings around a horizontal axis at the base level. The wall was retrofitted with an array of copper SMA wires with different cross-sectional areas. A new model is proposed for heat-treated copper SMAs and is validated based on published experimental results. A series of nonlinear finite element analyses are then performed on the wall for the purpose of assessing the SMA device retrofitting capabilities. Simulation results show an improvement of the wall response for the case of monotonic and quasi-static cyclic loadings.