Numerical models for the seismic assessment of St. Nicholas Cathedral, Cyprus

Within the scope of this study, seismic performance of the St. Nicholas Cathedral that dates back to 1300s was assessed. This structure resembles to the Rheims Cathedral of France with a nave of seven bays ending in a polygonal apse, together with flanking aisles ending in apsidal chapels of similar shape. According to historical records, it sustained heavy earthquake damage twice to its roof structure and flying buttresses. The main construction material used at St. Nicholas Cathedral is calcarenite. With the non-destructive and uniaxial compression tests carried out, mechanical properties of the material used and their variability throughout the structure were documented. Based on the information gathered on the structure, its 3 dimensional finite element model was built. After calibrating this model with ambient vibration test results, seismic performance of the cathedral was assessed. Findings of this study suggested that it will sustain severe damage at its flying buttresses and flying buttress-vault connection points (part of the roof structure) under an earthquake of 475 year return period. Based on the obtained analytical results, a number of rehabilitation recommendations were made

Seismic hazard assessment for Cyprus

In the present study, probabilistic seismic hazard assessment was conducted for Cyprus based on several new results: a new comprehensive earthquake catalog, seismic source models based on new research, and new attenuation relationships. Peak ground acceleration distributions obtained for a return period of 475 years for rock conditions indicate high hazard along the southern coastline of Cyprus, where the expected ground motion is between 0.3 and 0.4 g. The rest of the island is characterized by values representing less severe shaking. Results of this study strongly indicate the inadequacy of the Turkish Earthquake Code that is being used in the northern part of the island and the Eurocode 8 that is in effect in the southern part of the island to approximate the uniform hazard spectra developed for the high hazard and moderate hazard regions of the island

The recently compiled Turkish strong motion database: preliminary investigation for seismological parameters

Strong motion data recorded by the Turkish national strong motion network has been compiled and processed systematically for the first time, together with detailed geophysical and geotechnical site measurements for all of its stations. The catalog information of 18 seismological agencies and other sources were examined to obtain reliable source, geometry, and distance parameters for each event. The high quality digital and analog strong motion data was processed by a uniform methodology to remove the high- and low-frequency noise. Currently, the seismological and spectral information of 4,607 strong motion records are available for use by earth scientists and earthquake engineers. In this article, we present the fundamental features of this database and explain our methodology in their calculation. We present several comparisons of our database with other related studies to verify our approach during the computational stage of the seismological parameters. The results confirm the reliability of our calculations. The database has also enabled us to derive empirical magnitude conversion relationships to estimate moment magnitude in terms of different magnitude scales. The article ends with a discussion of the likely improvements in the European accelerometric data through contributions from this strong motion database applicable for seismically active shallow-crust regions. The findings of this article emphasize the necessity of global strong motion databases in Europe for better estimation of seismic hazard in regions of similar seismotectonic environment

Development of earthquake lossmap for Europe

For almost real-time estimation of the losses after a major earthquake in the Euro-Mediterranean region, the Joint Research Area-3 (JRA-3) component of the European Union (EU) Project "Network of Research Infrastructures for European Seismology -NERIES'' foresees (at several levels of sophistication)

A comparative study of European earthquake loss estimation tools for a scenario in Istanbul

A damage estimation exercise has been carried out using the building stock inventory and population database of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and selected European earthquake loss estimation packages: KOERILOSS, SELENA, ESCENARIS, SIGE, and DBELA. The input ground-motions, common to all models, correspond to a “credible worst case scenario” involving the rupture of the four segments of the Main Marmara Fault closest to Istanbul in a Mw 7.5 earthquake. The aim of the exercise is to assess the applicability of the selected software packages to earthquake loss estimation in the context of rapid post-earthquake response in European urban centers. The results in terms of predicted building damage and social losses are critically compared amongst each other, as well as with the results of previous scenario-based earthquake loss assessments carried out for the study area. The key methodological aspects and data needs for European rapid post-earthquake loss estimation are thus identified