Seismic Safety Evaluation of Tabriz Historical Citadel Using Finite Element and Simplified Kinematic Limit Analyses

Nowadays, powerful tools such as 3D FEA software are used for different structures analysis; although using this software for seismic safety assessment and strengthening historical masonry buildings have some problems. Complex building geometry, low information about physical properties of materials, insufficient information about composed material of internal parts of the walls, no permission for applying destructive tests on these buildings, connectivity in their body, long analysis time, and finally expensive analysis process are some of the problems for engineers and researchers working professionally on analysis and numerical modelling of historical buildings. Simplified Kinematic Limit Analysis (SKLA) is a powerful method for historical buildings analysis that is recommended for strengthening historical masonry buildings in Italian O.P.C.M. 343112 ordinance. Applied roles in this method are based on virtual work. Compared with other methods, less and more accessible information are necessary for modelling and assessment seismic safety analysis. In this paper a research has been about this method capabilities for Tabriz Alisha Citadel seismic safety analysis. The results have been compared with numerical analysis results of ANSYS software and showed that the building doesn't have enough safety in front of the earthquake prone.