Stability analysis of Famagusta Churches: St. George of the Latins

Abstract

This thesis addresses the study of the stability of Saint George of the Latins church, which is located in Famagusta (Cyprus), under self-weight and seismic loading. In the first part of the work, the state of the art is presented, including brief review on Famagusta history, its seismicity and the inspection and diagnosis works carried out on the church. The limit analysis of collapse mechanisms, both force based and displacement based, was used for a first safety assessment. After that, a numerical model was prepared using finite elements and it was updated using the dynamic identification results. The updated model was subjected to non-linear static (pushover) analysis in different directions (global and principal) using two lateral load patterns: proportional to the mass and proportional to the mode shape of the structure in the applicable direction. The results of the pushover analyses were compared with the limit analysis results. As final step, non-linear dynamic analyses with time integration were carried out and the dynamic behavior of the structure was compared with the results of limit analysis and pushover analysis.