Structural Rehabilitation Analyses for a Romanian Cultural Heritage Building Located in Seismic Area

Abstract

Structural rehabilitation, especially of historical monuments, is a difficult and widely treated subject in order to achieve a better insight regarding their seismic response. In Romania, a lot of historical monuments that require rehabilitation due to seismic actions are encountered. This paper aims to assess the effects of structural retrofitting on a historical monument located in Botoşani County, which withstood during its life cycle important earthquakes. The 20th century monument is located in a seismic active area of North – Eastern Romania, at a distance less than 300 km from Vrancea region where the epicenter of major earthquakes for the Eastern Europe is situated. Two hypotheses for the FE model of the structure were considered, namely with and without the rehabilitation solution. Nonlinear FEM analyses were performed in computer software environments. Using specific modeling tools of the computer program it is intended to simulate linear behaviour of masonry and global response of the structure. Comparisons between the two models were made. The results are used to validate the rehabilitation solution also consisting a source of information for its effects during structural lifetime cycle of the historical church.