Determination of the dynamic characteristics of historical minarets with different properties using the finite element method

In this thesis, the dynamic characteristics of three historical masonry minarets located in Süleymaniye District of Gümüşhane were comparatively investigated using the finite element method. The main aim of the study is to determine the changes in natural frequencies, periods and mode shapes of minarets with different geometrical properties under the same material assumptions. Within this scope, the geometrical dimensions of the base, shaft, balcony, upper body and cone sections were measured, and three-dimensional numerical models were created in ANSYS Mechanical APDL. Therefore, the material properties were determined by considering non-destructive in-situ evaluations, field observations and approximate material parameters commonly accepted in the literature for historical masonry structures. Since the results obtained from the non-destructive evaluations were found to be consistent with the values reported in the literature for similar historical masonry minarets, common material parameters were adopted for the three minarets. Therefore, the differences in the analysis results were mainly associated with geometrical features such as height, cross-sectional arrangement, shaft width, balcony level and slenderness ratio. The modal analysis results were compared to evaluate the dynamic behavior of the minarets.