Seismic Response Evaluation of Kashan Historical Bazaar Structure Including Soil-Structure Interaction

Historical heritage structures are especially vulnerable to earthquakes because they were designed only for gravity loads without any consideration of lateral loads. For this reason, the preservation and maintenance of these structures are of great cultural, economic, and social importance. The present study investigates the seismic vulnerability of a historical structure called Kashan Bazaar, located in Kashan (central Iran), dating back to the 17th century. The detailed 3D geometrical model of this structure was drawn using SolidWorks software. Finite element numerical method was used to evaluate the response of Bazaar structure using macro-modeling approach. Static, modal, and nonlinear static (pushover) analyses were carried out using two cases, with soil-structure interaction (SSI) and without SSI (fixed-base). According to the results, considering the SSI has a significant influence on the mode shapes, vibration frequencies, and the structural responses. The structure of Bazaar can withstand gravity loads as well as DBE demands in fixed-base model. However, the results of the SSI analyses show the structure weakness against lateral loads