Impact of wind loads on the structural integrity of reinforced concrete (RC) minarets

The rapid climatic shifts caused by global warming represent a growing and serious threat that demands immediate global attention and preparation. The collapse of minarets in Mersin, İzmir, Ankara and Kahramanmaraş due to strong winds has served as the inspiration for this research article. These incidents highlight the lack of sufficient investigation into the wind effects on minarets in Turkey and underscore the presence of minaret structures that may pose significant risks. In the conducted study, the Çamlıca Mosque minarets, the tallest minarets in Turkey, were used as a reference. Finite element analyses were performed using the ANSYS program for three distinct height scenarios: a high height of 107 meters, a medium height of 57 meters, and a low height of 27 meters. The dimensions of the base, pulpit, transition segment and spire parts of the minarets are the same, only the body lengths have been changed. Wind speeds were calculated according to the height of the minarets and the relevant regulation TS498 data was considered. The research concluded that the minaret with a body height of 20 meters, considered the lowest, was the safest under the influence of strong winds, experiencing a displacement of approximately 9.1 mm at the top. However, it was observed that the displacement values for the medium-height (57 m) and tall (107 m) minarets would increase significantly, with a high risk of structural collapse occurring at the transition segments. In the study, where principal tensile and compressive stress were also calculated and presented, it was found that the tensile stress in the lowest minaret was around 1.5 MPa. However, this value increased significantly in the medium and tallest minarets, rising to approximately 6.5 times and 25 times higher, respectively.