• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.503-518
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• 2014

On October 23, 2011, an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 struck Van, Turkey. This powerful earthquake caused the deaths of 604 people, more than 2,000 injuries, and a considerable loss of property. After this devastating earthquake, on November 9, 2011, another earthquake of magnitude 5.7 occurred. This moderate earthquake caused the deaths of 40 people. Partial and total collapse of the masonry and adobe buildings occurred in the rural areas of Van. In this paper, the acceleration records and response spectrums of the earthquakes were given and the structural deficiencies and reasons of the failures of the rural buildings were evaluated according to the Turkish Seismic Code. The observed failures showed that low quality of structural materials, poor workmanship, lack of engineering services and insufficient detailing of the structural elements are the main reasons of damages.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.99-118
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• 2013

Earthquakes, which are unavoidable natural phenomena in Turkey, have often produced economic and social disaster. The latest destructive earthquakes happened in Van city. Van, Turkey, earthquakes with M = 7.2 occurred on 23 October 2011 at 13:41 (local time), whose epicenter was about 16 km north of Van (Tabanlivillage) and M = 5.6 on 9 November 2011 epicentered near the town of Edremit south of Van in eastern Turkey and caused the loss of life and heavy damages. Both earthquakes killed 644 people and 2608 people were injured. Approximately 4000 buildings collapsed or were seriously damaged. The majority of the damaged structures were seismically insufficient, unreinforced masonry and adobe buildings in rural areas. In this paper, site surveys of the damaged masonry and adobe buildings are presented and the reasons for the caused damages are discussed in detail.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.231-243
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• 2022

The earthquake with a magnitude of Mw 6.8, which occurred on January 24, 2020, hit Sivrice (Elazığ) province of Turkey. The earthquake area takes place on the East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ) located between the Arabian and Turkish plates, one of the most active seismic regions in Turkey. According to the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency of Turkey (AFAD), 584 buildings collapsed, 6845 were heavily damaged, 1207 were moderately damaged, and 14389 were slightly damaged. The authors went to the region of earthquake after the mainshock to investigate the earthquake performances of masonry buildings. This paper presents the seismological aspects of the earthquake, acceleration records, and response spectra with different damping ratios. Furthermore, some typical damages and failure mechanisms on masonry buildings like rubble stone dwellings and minarets are discussed with illustrative photos. Although many major earthquakes have occurred in the region, similar mistakes are still being made in masonry building construction. In consequence, some suggestions viewpoint of the wooden tie beams, the corner details of masonry walls, the door and window openings, the metal fasteners and the earthquake codes are made to be more careful in masonry constructions at the end of the article.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.149-160
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• 2021

Buildings made using the locally available clay materials are amongst the least expensive forms of construction in many developing countries, and therefore, widely popular in remote areas. It is despite the fact that these low-strength masonry structures are vulnerable to seismic forces. Since transporting imported materials like cement and steel in areas inaccessible by motorable roads is challenging and financially unviable. This paper presents, and experimentally investigates, adobe masonry structures that utilize the abundantly available local clay materials with moderate use of imported materials like cement, aggregates, and steel. Shake-table tests were performed on two 1:3 reduce-scaled adobe masonry models for experimental seismic testing and verification. The model AM1 was confined with vertical lightly reinforced concrete columns provided at all corners and reinforced concrete horizontal bands (i.e., tie beams) provided at sill, lintel, and eave levels. The model AM2 was confined only with the horizontal bands provided at sill, lintel, and eave levels. The models were subjected to sinusoidal base motions for studying the damage evolution and response of the model under dynamic lateral loading. The lateral forcedeformation capacity curves for both models were developed and bi-linearized to compute the seismic response parameters: stiffness, strength, ductility, and response modification factor R. Seismic performance levels, story-drift, base shear coefficient, and the expected structural damages, were defined for both the models. Seismic performance assessment of the selected models was carried out using the lateral seismic force procedure to evaluate their safety in different seismic zones. The use of vertical columns in AM1 has shown a considerable increase in the lateral strength of the model in comparison to AM2. Although an R factor equal to 2.0 is recommended for both the models, AM1 has exhibited better seismic performance in all seismic zones due to its relatively high lateral strength in comparison to AM2.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.545-560
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• 2015

In this paper, blast-induced vibration effects on buildings located in rural areas were investigated. Damages to reinforced concrete, adobe and masonry buildings were evaluated in Çatakk$\ddot{o}pr\ddot{u}$ and Susuz villages in Silvan district of Diyarbakir, Turkey. Blasting of stiff rocks to construct highway at vicinity of the villages damaged the buildings seriously. The most important reason of the damages is lack of engineering services and improper constructed buildings according to the current building design codes. Also, it is determined that, inappropriate blast method and soft soil class increased the damages to the buildings. The study focuses on four points: Blast effect on buildings, soil conditions in villages, building damages and evaluation of damage reasons according to the current Turkish Earthquake Code (TEC).