Technical evaluation of abscissa damage of Erzincan Değirmenliköy church

Abstract

Erzincan is an Anatolian city that has experienced numbers of destructive earthquakes throughout its history. Erzincan Değirmenliköy Church is one of the rare historical buildings that survived these earthquakes. Although the main body of the building is completely standing; it is rumoured that the abscissa was destroyed during the 1939 Erzincan Earthquake. The authors of this article have carried out this study to examine the accuracy of this narration from a technical point of view. Technical information was collected about the church and a structural model was created by using macro modelling technique. Structural model was calibrated via operational modal analysis and the destroyed abscissa was speculated and added to the model. Dynamic analyses were performed by using earthquake records on the model with abscissa attachment. As a result of the research; it has been concluded that the church abscissa has been damaged over the connection zones with the whole body of the structure during the earthquake and then separated from the structure by the time passed.