Examination of the dynamic behavior of the historical Meram Bridge with the shaking table

Throughout human history, transportation has been one of the most important activities and will continue to be. Transportation, which is known as the movement or transfer of living and non-living beings from one place to another; It can be carried out by road, rail, sea and air. One of the structures used to provide transportation is bridges. Obstacles such as streams, valleys, highways, etc. can be overcome through bridges. An earthquake is a natural phenomenon that occurs as a result of the vibrations that occur due to sudden breaks in the earth's crust and shake the earth in the form of waves. Earthquakes affect other engineering structures as well as historical bridges and can cause damage. The historical bridges damaged in the February 6 Kahramanmaraş Earthquakes are an undeniable proof of the earthquake effect. Bridges, like other engineering structures, should maintain their durability against earthquakes. However, historic bridges were not built to withstand seismic events like today's bridges made of reinforced concrete and steel or equipped with seismic isolation. Therefore, measures should be taken to protect the structural integrity of historical buildings and to minimize their structural damage against earthquakes that have occurred and will occur. It is very important to know the bearing capacity, service life and reliability of historical buildings. However, it is difficult to determine the exact structural parameters of existing structures. After the mechanical properties are obtained, theoretical and experimental studies can be carried out on all or one element of the bridge to predict how the historical bridge reacts to earthquake behavior. In this thesis, both modal analysis and earthquake analysis were performed by modeling the historical Meram Bridge using the macro modeling method in ABAQUS, which is a finite element program. The behavior of the bridge under the effect of earthquakes was tested and the frequency and mode shape, which are the dynamic characteristics of the historical bridge, were determined. At the same time, general information about bridges is explained, the elements that make up masonry bridges, the materials used in masonry bridges and the modeling methods used in masonry bridges are mentioned, dynamic parameters and information about obtaining these parameters are given. In addition, theoretical analyses of historical bridges in the literature were examined. As a result, it was observed that maximum displacements occurred in the arches and supports. Keywords: Abaqus, earthquake, dynamic parameter, finite element, historical bridge, theoretical analysis.