Ancient Columns Research Articles

Dynamic And Earthquake Behavior Of AncientColumns Or Colonnades With Or Without ShapeMemory Alloy Devices

The dynamic and earthquake response of simple models of ancient columns or colonnades is examined here. The influence on this response arising from the inclusion of shape memory alloy devices, based on wires having energy dissipation characteristics (SMADs), is also studied. The excessive rocking and sliding and subsequent collapse of the epistyle is an additional form of unstable response in addition to the excessive rockmg, rotation and sliding of the individual columns. The insertion of these devices seems to inhibit, up to a point. unstable modes of response, whereas these identical model structures without the SMADs developed certain types of unstable response at lower excitation amplitudes. Finally, the relatively simple non-linear numerical simulation used to predict the pull-out test response of a two-column model colonnade structural formation with or without SMA wires seerns to reproduce the most significant aspects of the observed response.

The Earthquake Resistance of Ancient Columns: A Numerical Perspective Developed at the Classical Temple of Apollo Epikourios.

The temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassai is considered as one of the most remarkable and best preserved ancient monuments; it is recognised as the most important monument of classical architecture after Parthenon. The earthquake resistance of the temple columns was examined using the Distinct Element Method (D.E.E.) for discontinuum modelling. The validation of the code is concerned with the rocking behaviour of a rectangular rigid body and comprises three parts: free vibration dynamics and the energy loss during impact, confirmation of the theoretical results on the rocking behaviour due to harmonic shaking and examination of the earthquake response using the Kalamata time history. The numerical analysis on intact sections of the temple showed substantial resistance to strong ground motions. However, imperfections typical of the present condition of the monument namely, reduced width of the base and initial tilt of the column, substantially reduce the stability threshold.

Lava pillars used to reconstruct seafloor eruptions

Like the ancient columns of Athens and Rome, submarine lava pillars rise in memorial to structures now crumbled. New research suggests that these peculiar formations may hold the key to understanding the dynamics of some deep‐sea volcanic eruptions.“Because of the way the lava freezes [into pillars] and preserves—in a series of snap‐shots—the events of a submarine eruption, we can put together the sequence of what happened on the seafloor,” asserts Tracy Gregg, a volcanologist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) who has studied lava pillars from the East Pacific Rise and the Juan de Fuca Ridge.

The Dynamic Performance Of Models Of AncientColumns And Colonnades With And Without TheInsertion Of Wires Made Of Shape Memory Alloy

Ancient Greek and Roman structures composed of large heavy members that simply lie on top of each other in a perfect-fit construction without the use of connecting mortar, are distinctly different from relatively flexible contemporary structures. The colonnade (including free-standing monolithic columns or columns with drums) is the typical structural form of ancient Greek or Roman temples. The columns are connected at the top with the epistyle (entablature), also composed of monolithic orthogonal blocks, spanning the distance between two columns. The seismic response mechanisms that develop on this solid block structural system during strong ground motions can include sliding and rocking, thus dissipating the seismic energy in a different way from that of conventional contemporary buildings (figure 1). This paper presents results and conclusions from an experimental study that examines the dynamic response of rigid bodies, representing simple models of ancient columns or colonnades. The rigid bodies employed in this study were made of steel and are assumed to be models of prototype structures 20 times larger. ' %*'% w Figure 1. Monolithic ancient columns Transactions on the Built Environment vol 39 © 1999 WIT Press, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3509 282 Structural Studies, Repairs and Maintenance of Historical Buildings These models are subjected to various types of horizontal base motions (including sinusoidal as well as earthquake base motions), reproduced by the Earthquake Simulator Facility of Aristotle University. It also studies the influence on the response of the examined models arising from the inclusion of wires having energy dissipation characteristics. Summary results and conclusions from the observed dynamic performance are presented and discussed. As can be seen from the results obtained so far the performance of the model colonnades, exhibit similar stability trends with that observed for the individual column. The excessive rocking and sliding and subsequent collapse of the epistyle is an additional form of unstable response in addition to the excessive rocking, rotation and sliding of the individual columns. Moreover, the scheme of insertion of certain SMA wires with energy dissipation characteristics seems to inhibit, up to a point, unstable modes of response, whereas these identical model structures without the wires developed certain types of unstable response at lower excitation amplitudes.

Models of ancient columns and colonnades subjected to horizontal base motions: study of their dynamic and earthquake behaviour

Models of ancient columns and colonnades subjected to horizontal base motions: study of their dynamic and earthquake behaviour

The dynamic and earthquake performance of models of ancient columns and colonnades with and without the insertion of wires with energy dissipation characteristics

Ancient Greek and Roman structures composed of large heavy members that simply lie on top of each other in a perfect-fit construction without the use of connecting mortar, are distinctly different from relatively flexible contemporary structures. The colonnade (including free-standing monolithic columns or columns with drums) is the typical structural form of ancient Greek or Roman temples. The columns are connected at the top with the epistyle (entablature), also composed of monolithic orthogonal blocks, spanning the distance between two columns. The seismic response mechanisms that develop on this solid block structural system during strong ground motions can include sliding and rocking, thus dissipating the seismic energy in a different way from that of conventional contemporary buildings. This paper presents results and conclusions from an experimental study that examines the dynamic response of rigid bodies, representing simple models of ancient columns or colonnades. The rigid bodies employed in this study were made of steel and are assumed to be models of prototype structures 20 times larger. These models are subjected to various types of horizontal base motions (including sinusoidal as well as earthquake base motions), reproduced by the Earthquake Simulator Facility of Aristotle University. It also studies the influence on the response of the examined models arising from the inclusion of wires having energy dissipation characteristics. Summary results and conclusions from the observed dynamic performance are presented and discussed. As can be seen from the results obtained so far the performance of the model colonnades, exhibit similar stability trends with that

Canting Puns on Ancient Monuments

PUNS are so predominantly verbal in their character that one is apt to forget that they may be pictorial as well, and hence make their appeal through the eye rather than the ear. Illustrated puns may still be seen on concrete remains of ancient life, such as coins, vases, benches, and gravestones. Literary sources inform us of the existence of still others on monuments which have long since perished. Such plays, which are restricted to the names of persons and places, may be aptly described by the heraldic term canting. An extremely clever use of this type of pun is recorded by Pliny, H.N. xxxvi, 42. When Saura and Batrachus, the architects of the Porticus Octaviae, were denied the privilege of commemorating their names in an inscription, they resorted to the subterfuge of carving on the columns a lizard (aabpa) and a frog (0'rTpaxos). Among the many ancient columns preserved in the church of San Lorenzo outside the walls of Rome is one of the Ionic order on the volutes of which are sculptured a lizard and a frog. One writer believes that the in spiris of Pliny's description refers to volutes, and concludes that the column was the work of Saura and Batrachus.1 Puns of this type are employed in miscellaneous ways. On a certain occasion Cicero made a votive offering of a silver cup. He had his praenomen and nomen inscribed in the usual fashion, but for his cognomen he substituted in repousse an EpEWLVOoS, i.e., a cicer.2 In the Naples Museum there are three benches decorated with heads and hoofs of vaccae. Upon the benches is the inscription, M. NIGIDIUS VACCULA P. S. One is tempted to regard as an instance of the punning instinct the selection of Tyche by the sculptor Eutychides as a subject for his chisel. On the central slab of the eastern frieze of the Parthenon is