Ohrid Town Old Core – Conservation, Repair and Strengthening of Historic Buildings

Abstract eng:
Historic buildings and monuments are an important part of cultural heritage of one country and must be protected and preserved for future generations, especially against earthquakes as they cannot be predicted in time and intensity. Repair and strengthening of old buildings that are part of cultural and historical heritage is a very complex process consisting of various phases that require definition of the seismicity conditions, the design seismic parameters as well as the seismic risk level. All of these parameters should be studied thoroughly in order to provide corresponding bases and define the necessary preventive measures against expected strong earthquakes. The old town core of Ohrid is known for the large concentration of buildings of enormous cultural-historic importance. On the other side, the Lake Ohrid region is earthquake prone where a number of strong earthquakes has caused great disasters. The strongest event ever recorded took place on February 18, 1911, located at the south end of Ohrid Lake. The magnitude 6.6 earthquake (MCS IX0) occurred at depth of 15 km. The maximal expected magnitude for the Ohrid region is defined as 6.9. Considering the high seismicity of this area, all the buildings and particularly the old ones are permanently exposed to the risk of being damaged or experiencing total failure. Having in mind the age and importance of the church "Sveta Bogorodica-Perivlepta” in Ohrid, extensive, complex, engineering-seismological, geotechnical and other investigations were performed in order to define the seismic hazard level, the vulnerability of the building, the existing seismic risk and the seismic parameters for design, repair and strengthening of the building. Main attention was focused towards the definition of the time period of the occurrence of earthquakes with certain intensity as a representative for determination of parameters needed for dynamic analysis and eventual aseismic strengthening of the structure. Making a decision about the acceptable level of seismic risk and corresponding maximal accelerations is an issue that, except the designer, also involves the investor and the beneficiaries, meaning that the decision should finely balance the level of acceptable risk, significance of the structure and the economic cost of the potential interventions.

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