Experimental Investigations and Seismic Assessment of a Historical Stone Minaret in Mostar

Abstract

Minarets, tall structures, connected or not to the mosque attract attention due to their specific architectural features. Vulnerability to seismic damage has been witnessed throughout history on tall and slender structures after earthquake ground motions. In that respect, it is of the utmost importance to investigate the dynamic characteristics and resilience of historical stone minarets. This paper aims to provide the results of an on-site dynamic investigation of a stone minaret in Mostar and deliver its seismic assessment. The minaret is part of the Tabačica mosque built at the turn of the 16th and 17th century in the City of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The on-site investigation comprised dynamic identification of the minaret by ambient vibration testing and qualitative estimation of the masonry wall by sonic pulse velocity testing. Besides the modal analysis a time-history analysis was performed by using the Applied Element Method (AEM), considered an appropriate tool for assessing the behavior of historic masonry structures. A good match is found between the first natural frequency obtained by the on-site investigation and the modal analysis which is a solid basis for further seismic assessment of the minaret as a slender tower-like structure. The concentration of stresses is observed at the transition zones.

Seismic Impact on Building Structures: Assessment, Design, and Strengthening

“…In the meantime, the first story drift was found to be decreased because of the band type window and slope effect. Tresnjo et al [8] conducted an experimental dynamic campaign and integrated that with a seismic assessment for a historical minaret. The comparison between experimental and eigen analyses shows a good agreement in terms of dynamic characteristics.…”

Exploration and Characterization of Dynamic Properties for Cultural Heritage Conservation: A Case Study for Historical Stone Masonry Buildings in Zanzibar

“…To bridge the gap in terms of establishing the relationships between experimental investigations with simulation outcomes, a few studies were found in the literature to assess the dynamic response of traditional masonry structures. For instance, Gentile and Saisi (2007) deployed finite element analysis (FEA) to assess the ambient dynamic response of a 74 m tall bell tower built in the 16th century [20,[25][26][27][28][29][30]. By integrating material properties in conjunction with geometry, slenderness ratio, and establishing boundary conditions to solve the equations of motion, the model was simulated under ambient environmental conditions.…”

Modal and Structural Identification of Historic Bell Tower in Čuntić, Croatia Using Ambient Vibration Testing

“…The bell tower was damaged during the Petrinja earthquake in such a way that its functionality was compromised, so an evaluation of its seismic resistance is required. Recently, the application of the results of experimental determination of modal parameters with AMT for different buildings has gained importance [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. Gentile and Saisi [15] presented the results of investigations based on ambient vibrations carried out to evaluate the structural condition of a masonry bell tower built in the XVII century and about 74 m high.…”

“…The parameters of the materials were derived by calibrating finite element models (FEM), using data collected during a study campaign carried out with an OMA application. Recently, Trešnjo et al [29] presented the results of a dynamic on-site investigation of a stone minaret in Mostar and provided a seismic evaluation. The on-site investigation included dynamic identification of the minaret through environmental vibration tests and qualitative assessment of the masonry through sound pulse velocity measurements.…”