Post-Earthquake Damage Assessments of Historic Mosques and Effects of Near-Fault and Far-Fault Ground Motions on Seismic Responses

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper is based on the the post-earthquake evaluation of two heavily damaged historic masonry mosques and the investigation of the effects of near-fault and far-fault ground motions on their seismic behaviors. The Hüsrev Pasha and Kaya Çelebi mosques, located in Van province, Turkey, were exposed to two devastating earthquakes (on October 23, 2011 and November 9, 2011) and their aftershocks. The minaret, the dome covering the main structure and porch of Kaya Çelebi mosque and the porch of Hüsrev Pasha mosque collapsed after earthquakes. This paper consists of two main sections. In the first, the post-earthquake performances of the mosques, and the damage to them, is evaluated by using the linear time-history analyses. In the other, the structural responses of the mosques are compared in order to evaluate the near-fault and far-fault ground motion effects on seismic behaviors. Results indicate that the vertical components of the 2011 Van earthquakes lead to structural responses for the mosques which are as crucial as their horizontal components. This is due to the vibration modes in the vertical direction, with and without high modal participating mass ratios, corresponding to high spectral acceleration values. It has been found that this situation significantly affects the structural behavior of mosques and especially domes. However, the analyses show that both near-fault and far-fault ground motions may have substantial effects on such historic structures, depending on the earthquake characteristics.