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Geotechnical aspects in sustainable protection of cultural and historical monuments
Les aspects géotechniques de la protection durable des monuments culturels et historiques
Sesov V., Cvetanovska J., Edip K.
University "Ss Cyril and Methodius" - Skopje
Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology
ABSTRACT: This paper describes the geotechnical aspects of comprehensive methodology that has been developed at Institute for
Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology for protection of cultural and historical heritage. The methodology has been
applied on numerous domestic and international projects. Primarily focus is given on geotechnical conditions related to seismic
actions because the history showed that many of the historical monuments have been heavily damaged due to earthquakes.
Multidisciplinary approach was used to have clear insight of key parameters that driven the seismic potential of the sites. Seismic
hazard and risk analysis defined the level of the seismic potential of the sites. Practical implementation of the methodology is
described through three case studies for protection of cultural and historical monuments in Macedonia: the St. Mary Peribleptos
Church, from the 13th century, located in old town of Ohrid; the mosque Mustafa Pasha in Skopje, from the 15th century and the 19th
century Clock Tower located in the city of Prilep. The obtained results point out the significance of involving local site conditions into
the seismic assessment and retrofit of historical structures in general.
RÉSUMÉ : Dans cet exposé sont présentés les aspects géotechniques d’une méthodologie complète qui a été développée à l’Institut
de génie sismique et d’ingénierie parasismique pour la protection des monuments historiques et culturels. La méthodologie est
appliquée à plusieurs projets domestiques et internationaux. L’attention est particulièrement portée sur les conditions géotechniques
liées au chargement sismique, puisque l’histoire a démontré que beaucoup de monuments historiques avaient très endommagés
pendant le séisme. Pour obtenir une idée claire des paramètres clés du potentiel sismique des localités, on a utilisé une approche
multidisciplinaire. A partir de l’analyse du danger et du risque sismique, on a défini le niveau du séisme potentiel sur les localités.
L’implémentation pratique de la méthodologie est décrite sur trois exemples d’étude pour la protection des monuments historiques et
culturels en Macédoine: l’église Sainte Marie Peribleptos du 13 siècle, dans le vieille ville d’Ohride, la mosquée Mustafa Pasha de
Skopje datant du 15 siècle et la tour de horloge de Prilep construite au 19 siècle. Les résultats obtenus montrent l’importance de la
prise en compte des conditions locales dans l’estimation des paramètres sismiques et plus généralement, des informations en retour
sur les constructions historiques à partir de leur état initial.
KEYWORDS: geotechnical aspects, sustainable protection, historical monuments
1 INTRODUCTION
Located in the south east part of Europe, having central position
in Balkan region, Republic of Macedonia is characterized with
significant cultural and historical heritage, which originated
from early ancient until recent modern periods. For such long
life times these monuments have experienced many unexpected
loading actions which produced different consequences, from
minor cracks to heavily damages and collapses. Common thing
for these ‘destructive’ situations is when the monument is
heavily damaged or collapsed the new monument is built on the
foundation of previous-older monument so the location of the
monuments remains the same. This is very common situation in
Macedonia where several civilization and empires passed
through this territory and everyone leaves monuments from
their own period. This emphasis the importance of the
information and data for the site conditions where these
monuments are located toward sustainable preservation and
protection of cultural and historical heritage. Comprehensive
approach for sustainable protection involving geotechnical
aspects is presented through three chosen case studies of very
unique and specific type of historical monuments: the Mustafa
Pasha mosque in Skopje, from the 15
th
century, the church of
The Holy Mother of God Peribleptos, from the 13
th
century,
located in the old town of Ohrid and the Clock Tower, from the
19th century, located in the city of Prilep.
2 METHODOLOGY
The ground conditions in the seismic design process are
usually taken into account through determination of the base
seismic shear force, where the coefficient, which represents the
ground conditions, is multiplied by other coefficients to
calculate the seismic force. Then quasi-static analysis can be
performed in order to design the structural elements and check
the seismic performance of the structure. In cases where the
design engineer has the task to design buildings of higher
importance such as historic monuments, there should be no
doubt that the engineer has to perform a time history analysis of
the structure subjected to seismic loading (Sesov et al., 2012).
This analysis has to be based on the seismic parameters which
are defined by the results from the in-situ and laboratory
investigations performed for the site.
This paper is primarily focused on application of this
methodology on historical structures, which are by themselves
and in most of the cases, unique structures of significant cultural
importance and as such deserve a multidisciplinary approach to
their strengthening and preservation. No matter how
sophisticated the structural analysis may be (starting from
linear-elastic, pushover and nonlinear time history analysis), yet
the variation and the uncertainty associated with the local soil
conditions, the design seismic input parameters, determine
considerably the response of the structure.
