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Post-Earthquake Assessment And Numerical Modeling Of Freestanding Heritage Structures, M. Khalid Saifullah, Christine E. Wittich

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Historic and heritage structures are particularly vulnerable to earthquakes, where damage or collapse can not only lead to loss of a structure but also the loss of irreplaceable heritage. Many heritage structures can be classified as freestanding (detached) structures, including unreinforced masonry walls, classical multi-drum columns, and statue-pedestal systems. However, the seismic response of freestanding structures (sliding, rocking, rock-slide, overturning) is poorly predicted by existing methods due to geometric non-linearities as well as sensitivity to interface conditions and modeling parameters. Previous studies have focused on analytical modeling of simplified systems and/or experimentation under controlled laboratory conditions. In contrast, this paper …