Assessing Seismic Crack Performance of Diyarbakır Çüngüş Masonry Stone Bridge Considering 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, Malatya, Gaziantep Earthquakes

Abstract

Examination of the creep behavior of historical structures and the correct assessment of seismic failures in historical structures are of great importance for the safety and future of these important structures. In this study, time-dependent settlement and three-dimensional (3D) seismic analyses of a historical stone bridge were investigated using the 3D discrete element modeling technique. For the settlement and seismic analyses, the historical single-span Çüngüş bridge which was built in the 18th century in Diyarbakır,Türkiye by Ottoman Empire was used. Since Diyarbakır is in a dangerous zone according to the Türkiye seismic map, the examination of this structure is very critical for the history of Türkiye. The 3D model of the bridge was created using the FLAC3D program based on the finite-difference method and all the stone elements in the historical bridge were modeled separately as blocks. Special interaction elements were defined between the discretely modeled stones. For settlement creep analyses, the Burger-creep material model, which was not used for the creep behavior of historical buildings in the past, was utilized. Firstly, the 500year long-term creep behavior of the bridge was examined by considering the fix boundary condition and full reservoir condition. According to the creep analyses, it was seen that the most deformation and failure section of the bridge is the arch section. Then, for the seismic analyses of the bridge, free-field and quiet nonreflecting boundary conditions were defined in the model. Furthermore, hysteresis damping coefficients were taken into account in seismic analyses with the help of special FLAC3D code. 10 different earthquakes were considered for the seismic analyses. According to the earthquake analyses, the earthquake behavior of the Çüngüş historical bridge was assessed by considering the full reservoir condition and it was understood that the 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, Malatya, Gaziantep earthquakes significantly changed the seismic safety behavior of Çüngüş single-span historical bridge.