Seismic Risk Assessment of Historical Eastern Turkish Buildings by Finite Element Analysis

Traditional masonry buildings, commonly built in Turkey, are one of the important items of cultural heritage. There are many important historical buildings in the east part of Turkey. One of the important locations in east of Turkey is Kilis. In this study, Kilis houses of original types in terms of architectural and functionality, were examined regarding the effects of an earthquake. Therefore, five traditional Kilis houses were examined and the buildings were modeled using SAP2000 finite element software. The models were investigated with different materials such as stone, brick, pumice and cellular concrete material. Time history analyses were performed for the modeled buildings, with three different ground motion records. Displacement values, compressive stresses, tensile stresses, shear stresses and base shear values, obtained from the analysis results were examined in detail. When the results of the study were evaluated, earthquake resistance of buildings was was found to be high and the displacements values were not at a significant level.