THE EFFECT OF SUBSOILS ON THE SEISMIC RESPONSE OF REINFORCED CONCRETE CYLINDRICAL MINARETS

Minarets are special structures commonly used in Islamic architecture. The seismic behavior of minarets is quite different from that of other well known structures because of their unique structural characteristics such as slenderness, distinctive geometrical shape and support system. Both contemporary and historical minarets have suffered substantial damage during recent earthquakes especially in some earthquake prone Islamic countries including Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. Post-earthquake observations indicate that the soil characteristics play an important role on the overall minaret behavior and damage. This study investigates the seismic response of a reinforced concrete representative minaret located on the four different subsoil classes defined in the Turkish Earthquake Code (2007). Finite element method is used to model the minaret. Seismic analyses are carried out considering the design spectra defined by the Turkish Earthquake Code. Internal forces and lateral displacements are estimated for the four subsoil classes. Analysis results are evaluated and conclusions are drawn regarding the effects of subsoils on the dynamic response of reinforced concrete minarets.