SEISMIC ASSESSMENT OF ADOBEVAULTED ARCHITECTURE IN IRAN

Adobe architecture has shown poor performance during past earthquakes and can be identified as one of the most vulnerable building typology to earthquakes. On the other hand, past earthquakes prove that adobe vaulting, a typical roofing system for adobe architecture located in hot and dry areas, plays a significant role in seismic behavior of adobe buildings. This paper reports the results from a survey carried out on 57 segmental adobe vaults in the city of Yazd, Iran, aiming at assessing the seismic behavior of adobe vaults, and performing a numerical parametric study. To this end, a reference vault is considered as representative of the sample. Limit analysis theory implemented in Block2D software is employed to carry out the numerical analyses. Results indicate that variation in influential parameters such as span, rise and thickness of vault and also depth of infill over the vault affects the seismic performance of adobe vaults. In addition, physical properties of infill and mechanical properties of adobe have also a significant influence.