Structural Vulnerability and Seismic Behavior of Minarets in Earthquake-Affected Areas

The significant destructive effect of the 2023 Kahramanmaraş Earthquakes on the structures was also intensely observed in the minarets. In this study, the earthquake behavior of double-balcony minarets built in different structural systems was examined in detail. The failure of the double-balcony minarets of 17 mosques located in the earthquake zone and exposed to various levels of failure was investigated in terms of earthquake and structural engineering. In the paper, additional information about earthquakes was provided. In masonry minarets, the building material's low tensile and shear strength increased the damage level. In addition, whether the minarets were built adjacent to the mosque or separately affected the type of damage. Since most of the minarets considered in the earthquake damage survey are masonry, numerical analyses using the finite element method (FEM) were carried out on the double-balcony masonry minaret model. As a result of the analyses performed with masonry minarets, the maximum lateral displacement of 370.96 mm occurred in 63.3 s for the Pazarcık earthquake, while the maximum displacement of 247.8 mm occurred in 32.7 s for the Elbistan earthquake. The results were discussed, and the studies carried out on the repair and strengthening of the minarets were mentioned.