Numerical Investigation of the Seismic Behaviour of Connections of Ancient Colonnades

Abstract eng:
As a common practice, restoration projects of ancient colonnades have to deal with joining together fragments of architectural members using threaded titanium bars (reinforcement) fixed into place with cement mortar. The basic criterion for the design of such connections is that, in case of a seismic event, the reinforcement should absorb the seismic energy and fail before the marble suffers any damage. For the dimensioning of the titanium bars, a methodology based on the capacity design philosophy is usually implemented. The accurate calculation of the forces that will be induced to the reinforcement during an earthquake is not an easy task, since the response of the structure is governed by the rocking and the sliding of the individual stone blocks. In this paper, the efficiency of the reinforcement used for the connection of complements, which has been calculated with the above-mentioned capacity design methodology, is investigated for selected severe seismic excitations. The analyses were performed for the case study of the restoration of the colonnades of the Southern part of the Ancient Agora of Kos in Greece. The induced forces were calculated by dynamic analyses, using an accurate numerical description of the restoration's structural scheme and earthquake motions of various characteristics, selected to be compatible with the seismological history and the soil conditions at the site. All the analyses were performed using the code 3DEC, which is based on the distinct element method and has been verified and calibrated by comparison of the numerical results with experimental data. The results show that the simplified design that is applied in practice is adequate, as the stresses induced to the reinforcement bars were always less than the ultimate strength and, in many cases, significantly less than the yield resistance as well.

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