Seismic Assessment of the Lima Cathedral Bell Towers via Kinematic and Nonlinear Static Pushover Analyses

ABSTRACT

The protection of cultural heritage against earthquake induced actions is one of the main challenges the earthquake engineering science and practice are facing. This article presents a seismic assessment study on one of the most ancient colonial buildings present in Peru, the Cathedral of Lima, focusing on its towers. A historical review highlighted how these structures, together with the whole Cathedral, suffered intense damage and partial collapse during previous earthquakes. In order to identify the structure main deficiencies, both linear kinematic analyses and nonlinear static analyses have been performed. Different nonlinear finite element models have been created to evaluate the influence of the adjacent walls. Different load distributions have been compared to evaluate how simplified patterns could provide results close to load distributions taken from a modal analysis of the complex. A simple retrofit strategy, consisting on the introduction of steel ties, has also been studied as a reference. Results show good correlation between kinematic and pushover analyses. The construction, when compared to the requirements of the national code for new buildings, results significantly vulnerable, pointing out the need to accept some structural damage even after seismic retrofit.

KEYWORDS:

• Bell towers
• finite elements
• historical buildings
• kinematic analyses
• nonlinear static analysis
• seismic assessment

Acknowledgments

This work has been partially completed thanks to the ELARCH project “Euro-Latin America partnership in natural Risk mitigation and protection of the Cultural Heritage,” funded with support of the European Commission Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, EACEA, grant no. 552129-EM-1-2014-1-IT-ERA MUNDUS-EMA21. This document reflects the view only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

Disclosure

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Commission Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, EACEA, under the ELARCH project “Euro-Latin America partnership in natural Risk mitigation and protection of the Cultural Heritage,” [552129-EM-1-2014-1-IT-ERA MUNDUS-EMA21];