Seismic Behavior of Persian Brick Arches

The application of arch structural form in Iran goes back to as far as thousands of years ago. Arch is a fundamental component of Iranian architecture. Other structural systems such as vaults and domes are indeed derived from arch. In the present study, the stability of various Iranian arches with regards to weight, surcharge and earthquake has been analyzed. The most applicable Iranian arches analyzed in this study include circular arches, parabolic-shaped arches, onion-shaped arches, four-centered pointed arches, obtuse angel arches and basket-handle arches which have been transferred into ANSYS software medium following the geometrical modeling in AutoCAD software. The static analysis, modal analysis and linear and non-linear dynamic analysis have been carried out on limited components model. Having compared the results of the analyses, it was recognized that for the same span and thickness in various Iranian arches analyzed in the present study, the parabolic-shaped arch has a better bearing with respect to gravity and lateral loads, and the onion-shaped arch is void of adequate resistance under its own weight and the gravity surcharge. The static stability of the arches under the gravity load from low to high is respectively as follows: the Semi-elliptical arch, the parabolic-shaped arch, basket-handle arch, circular arch and four-centered pointed arch. Also the seismic stability of the arches is obtained from high to low as follows: the parabolic-shaped arch, the basket handle arch, the four-centered pointed arch, the Semi-elliptical arch and the circular arch. The location of cracks’ threshold in the arches damaged by seismic loading is in the internal face of the arch. Also, the time and ways of arch collapse have been obtained which will be discussed in the text of the study. Keywords: FE Modeling, Cracking Pattern, Non-linear analysis, Persian Arches, Seismic Behavior, Seismic Vulnerability