Efficiency of Buttress Form on the Out-of-plane Resistance of Masonry Walls Subjected to Vault Thrust

Many historical buildings are covered with vaults or domes. This study investigates the effectiveness of the buttress form on the lateral (out-of-plane) resistance of masonry walls subjected to the inclined vault thrust. For this purpose, a basic calculation model was created from an existing historical masonry building. Calculation models were obtained by adding buttresses which have various forms but equal volumes to this model. In addition to the most commonly rectangular, trapezoidal, and triangular buttresses, two-stepped, concave curvilinear, and semi-cylindrical buttresses were also considered. Nonlinear static analyses were performed on the models with Abaqus software. By considering one side (half) of the calculation models, inclined thrust force versus wall top section lateral displacement graphs were obtained, and the effectiveness of the buttress form on the lateral resistance of the building was determined. It has been observed that the structure has the highest out-of-plane resistance (5700 kN and 5431 kN) when supported by triangular and curvilinear concave buttresses, respectively, and the lowest resistance (1549 kN) when supported by semi-cylindrical buttresses. In the study, the effects of three parameters, depth, thickness and height of the buttress, on the lateral resistance of the building were also investigated by considering only the rectangular buttressed model. These parameters were found to have significant effects on the resistance as expected

Investigation of the effectiveness of nature-inspired buttress forms in supporting masonry structures

Upornjak je važan element za nadsvođene i kupolaste zidane konstrukcije. Na početku ovog istraživanja, nakon pregleda oblika upornjaka u povijesnoj zidanoj arhitekturi, sažeta su dosadašnja istraživanja o zidanim upornjacima. Zatim su predstavljene neke ideje za buduća istraživanja zidanih upornjaka. Konačno, istražuje se učinkovitost idealiziranog upornjaka u obliku potpornog korijenja za podupiranje zidane konstrukcije protiv seizmičkih sila. Uočeno je da konkavni parabolični upornjak pruža veću otpornost konstrukciji nego upornjak s idealiziranim oblikom potpornog korijenja.A buttress is a crucial element for vaulted and domed masonry structures. In this study, after reviewing the buttress forms in historical masonry architecture, previous studies on masonry buttresses are summarized. Then, some ideas for potential studies on masonry buttresses are presented. Finally, the effectiveness of an idealized tree buttress-shaped buttress in supporting masonry structures against seismic forces is investigated. The results indicate that a concave parabolic buttress provides structures with a higher resistance than a buttress with an idealized shape of tree buttresses

Geotechnical and Structural Damages Caused by the 2023 Kahramanmaraş Earthquakes in Gölbaşı (Adıyaman)

On 6 February 2023, two independent earthquake pairs on the East Anatolian Fault Zone, with epicenters in Pazarcık (Mw = 7.7) and Elbistan (Mw = 7.6) districts of Kahramanmaraş province, caused great destruction. Adıyaman and Gölbaşı districts of this city are among the settlements most affected by the earthquake. Especially in the district where geotechnical damages are most observed, the destructive effects of earthquakes have been clearly observed in buildings with different structural systems. In this study, information is given about the earthquakes that hit the region and the fault zone where the earthquakes occur. Geotechnical and structural damages occurring in the villages and center of the district were evaluated within the scope of earthquakes and structural engineering. It can be stated that damages observed in the district center are generally caused by soil–structure interaction problems. The fact that masonry structures, which are widely used in rural areas, do not benefit from any engineering services has an impact on the level of damage. The main reason for the damages occurring in the reinforced concrete structures in the district is the reinforced concrete system that is not designed properly or not built in accordance with the design. This case study demonstrated the importance of earthquake–soil–structure interactions in line with earthquake-resistant building design principles

A Hybrid Artificial Neural Network—Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm Model for the Determination of Target Displacements in Mid-Rise Regular Reinforced-Concrete Buildings

The realistic determination of damage estimation and building performance depends on target displacements in performance-based earthquake engineering. In this study, target displacements were obtained by performing pushover analysis for a sample reinforced-concrete building model, taking into account 60 different peak ground accelerations for each of the five different stories. Three different target displacements were obtained for damage estimation, such as damage limitation (DL), significant damage (SD), and near collapse (NC), obtained for each peak ground acceleration for five different numbers of stories, respectively. It aims to develop an artificial neural network (ANN)-based sustainable model to predict target displacements under different seismic risks for mid-rise regular reinforced-concrete buildings, which make up a large part of the existing building stock, using all the data obtained. For this purpose, a hybrid structure was established with the particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO), and the network structure’s hyper parameters were optimized. Three different hybrid models were created in order to predict the target displacements most successfully. It was found that the ANN established with particles with the best position revealed by the hybrid models produced successful results in the calculation of the performance score. The created hybrid models produced 99% successful results in DL estimation, 99% in SD estimation, and 99% in NC estimation in determining target displacements in mid-rise regular reinforced-concrete buildings. The hybrid model also revealed which parameters should be used in ANN for estimating target displacements under different seismic risks