A study on seismic behaviour of masonry mosques after restoration

Historical masonry structures have an important value for cultures and it is essential for every society to strengthen them and confidently transfer to the future. For this reason, determination of the seismic earthquake response, which is the most affecting factor to cause the damage at these structures, gain more importance. In this paper, the seismic earthquake behaviour of Kaya Celebi Mosque, which is located in Turkey and the restoration process has still continued after 2011 Van earthquake, is determined. Firstly the dynamic modal analysis and subsequently the seismic spectral analysis are performed using the finite element model of the mosque constructed with restoration drawings in SAP2000 program. Maximum displacements, tensile, compressive and shear stresses are obtained and presented with contours diagrams. Turkish Earthquake Code and its general technical specifications are considered to evaluate the structural responses. After the analyses, it is seen that the displacements and compressive/shear stresses within the code limits. However, tension stresses exceeded the maximum values at some local regions. For this mosque, this is in tolerance limits considering the whole structure. But, it can be said that the tension stresses is very important for this type of the structures, especially between the stone and mortar. So, some additional strengthening solutions considering the originality of historical structures may be applicable on maximum tensile regions.