Response evaluation of historical crooked minaret under wind and earthquake loadings

Turkey has been hosted various civilizations throughout centuries and it has become one of the oldest settlements all over the world due to the geographical location. Therefore, it has accommodated innumerable historical structures remain from the past civilizations. Protection and conservation of these historical constructions should be the major points for continuity of history. Crooked minaret is one of between these historical invaluable structures. It is located at the city of Aksaray and it dates back approximately 800 years. The minaret has lost its vertical position in time and bends on the North-West direction. In this study, general information is given about minarets and some restoration recommendations are given for crooked minaret based on performed some finite element structural analyses. These analyses are considered into three cases; 1-Dead loading, 2- Wind loading, and 3-Earthquake loadings. Results from the analyses are discussed detailed and some useful recommendations are given in the end of the study.