Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184

www.elsevier.com/locate/engstruct

Structural identification for post-earthquake safety analysis of the Fatih

mosque after the 17 August 1999 Kocaeli earthquake
Kemal Beyen ∗
Kocaeli University, Civil Engineering Department, Veziroglu Campus, Izmit, Kocaeli, Turkey

Available online 25 September 2007

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the structural identification of a historical structure damaged during the 17 August 1999 Kocaeli earthquake.
Results of the structural models and methods are cross-validated in order to identify the reliable dynamic characteristics. Spectral analysis of the
eight structural points yields average peak frequencies, respectively at around 2.5, 3.5, 4.3, 5.3 Hz and so on for NW–SE direction. Similarly for
the SW–NE direction, peaks are seen at around 2.6, 3.2, 4.5–5 Hz with small differences in amplitudes between different structural points. Among
the stations, station 3 behaves differently than the other observation points in low and high frequency regions indicating that the data recorded at
station 3 should be examined in more detail.
In parametric analysis, (a) the SDOF system as an SISO-ARX model, and (b) the MDOF system as a MIMO-ARX model are adopted and
modal deformations are obtained using a state-space model with the OKID technique. The SDOF model captures the important peak frequencies
with sufficient accuracy, but magnitudes are arguably small. In MDOF model, responses at the crown stations 1, 2, 3, and 4 display almost the
same peak magnitudes at the same frequency, 2.51 Hz for NE–SW direction, but station 3 (which possesses smaller peak amplitude at a smaller
frequency, 2.2 Hz) is exceptional and indicative of an anomaly. Similar conclusion with different peak frequency for NE–SW direction is also
inferred from the SISO and Spectral analyses, when compared. Station 3 among the crown stations exceptionally yields peak frequency at 1.8 Hz
in spectral analysis and around 1.8 Hz in SISO analysis. Natural frequencies of the structure estimated by SDOF and MDOF systems are close
to each other, and thus, they can be accepted as global properties of the structure, except station 3. Such inconsistency implies that, for indicative
anomaly, there might be a practical avenue through the evaluation of the first mode estimated by spectral, SDOF and MDOF models for a structure
with the members of equal importancy in global dynamic behavior and symmetrical in plan and in elevations.
Calculated elastic response spectrum of the Fatih record has larger amplitudes at the period of 0.55 s (with broadband characteristic) and larger
than the amplitudes of the design spectrum with 10% probability of excedance in 50 years (for new constructions) for North–South direction.
These larger local peaks at 0.55 s; (1) verify the 1.8 Hz of the fundamental frequency of the local ground and (2) suggest that, as the minimum
requirements for the earthquake resistant design of buildings, in accordance with the strengthening applications in current seismic design code,
the 2% probability of exceedance of the 5% damped elastic design acceleration spectrum within a period of 50 years is adequate. First mode of
the structure, 2.4 and 2.5 Hz for NS and EW directions respectively, falls into the range of the dominant broadband period of the seismic loading.
Such a match points out the resonance possibility, which might have occurred during the earthquake. The duration of the earthquake and following
shocks of many small earthquakes in addition to the resonance might be the key contributors to the damage.
c 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Structural identification; Ambient vibration; Frequency response function (FRF); Nonparametric (spectral) analysis; Parametric analysis; Transfer
function; SIMO (SDOF); MIMO (MDOF); Structural response; Response spectra; Historical structure

1. Introduction Anatolian plate in Turkey, which caused widespread damage

Kocaeli earthquake with a moment magnitude (Mw) of
7.4 is one of the largest earthquakes in recent times on the
∗ Tel.: +90 212 295 74 28.
E-mail addresses: beyen@boun.edu.tr, kbeyen@kou.edu.tr.
and destruction in densely populated epicentral region in the
heartland of Turkey and in the far-field as well. Considerable
damage to engineering structures with substantial casualties are
located on the shorelines of the Izmit bay in the east end of
the Marmara sea as a near fault region and western suburbs of
Istanbul as a far-field region with significant building damage

0141-0296/$ - see front matter c 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.engstruct.2007.08.005
2166 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184

Table 1
Important historical earthquakes of İstanbul

Periods Years Descriptions about the earthquake intensity and damage

East Roman period
407, 437, 447, 450, 542 Intensive earthquakes hit the city.
19 October 557 Dome of Hagia Sophia collapsed and parts of the city walls were destroyed.
740 Hagia Irine and many dwellings received damage.
989 Many cities in Italy were shaken, west side of the dome of Hagia Sophia collapsed.
1064 West districts of the city heavily damaged.
1343 During the 12 day ongoing aftershocks, damage increased over the city.
1346 aftershocks continued nonstop a year. East arch and the part of the dome of the Hagia Sophia
collapsed.
1354 Extensive damage were on the city walls.

Ottaman period 16 October 1489 Mosques built after the conquest and especially their minarets received intensive damages.
22 August 1509 Particularly strong earthquake referred as ‘The Lesser Judgement’. The aftershocks continued
for forty five days. A hundred and nine mosques and more than a thousand dwellings were
destroyed. In records, the death toll varies between 5000 and 15000. Tsunamis hit the city
walls and rushed in from the Marmara sea.
30 April 1557 Fatih mosque received serious damage.
28 June 1648 Ferries and ships hit each other and received serious damage. Great number of dwellings were
collapsed.
6 February 1659 City walls and Rumeli Castle on the Bosphore received damages.
11 July 1690 Occurred in night time. All domes of the Fatih mosque and the main entrance of the city wall
at the Topkapı damaged.
24 May 1719 Many parts of the city walls on the seven castles and the dome of the Mihrimah Sultan
mosque collapsed.
3 September 1754 Domes of the Fatih and Beyazid mosques received damage.
22 May 1766 Intensively occurred on the second day of the religious holiday, Aftershocks took 8 months.
Great number of the dwellings and much of the parts of Fatih mosque destroyed.
23 September 1841 City was shaken 3 times and received intensive damage.
10 July 1894 Earthquake duration is 12 s. Great number of dwellings and tools on historical peninsula and
princes islands lost.
Turkish republic 29 May 1923 Moderate earthquake with 5.5 Magnitude, epicenter is in north of the İzmit.
26 October 1923 Moderate earthquake with 5 Magnitude, epicenter is in Catalca.
13 March 1952 Moderate earthquake with 5 Magnitude, epicenter is in Marmara Ereģlisi.
26 December 1957 Moderate earthquake with 5.2 Magnitude, epicenter is in Izmit.
18 September 1963 Moderate earthquake with 6.3 Magnitude, epicenter is in Cınarcık.
24 April 1988 Moderate earthquake with 5.1 Magnitude, epicenter is in Marmara Ereģlisi.
Feb–April 1995 Small earthquakes with 4.4–4.6 Magnitudes, epicenters are in Marmara Sea.
17 August 1999 Intensive earthquake with 7.4 Magnitude, epicenter is in Golcuk, epicentral distance is 70 km
to the city center of Istanbul.

despite its distance of about 110 km from source zone [1].
Countless number of historical structures in Istanbul are in
similar situation and they are subjected to the effect of active
faults in either near or far regions with almost equal risks. For
conservation and restoration of historical structures, significant
advances have been made in non-destructive experimental and
numerical techniques for identifying structural characteristics,
and knowledge on traditional materials [2,3]. To enhance the
efforts in rehabilitating vulnerable structures including those
already damaged, structural identification [4] will serve as a
tool in assessing the structural behavior and the local effects.
Historical structures made of stone brick with arch and
dome components take an important portion of the historical
structure stock. As a historical record, collapse of the east
arch of Hagia Sophia in 1347 is a notable example for a post-
earthquake failure of a structure that received damage during
the major earthquake of 1344. During the huge earthquake
of 1766, many domes and arches in the city including Fatih
mosque collapsed, since the dome was supported on arches
that rise from heavy corner piers [5,6]. Many earthquakes have
affected Fatih mosque in its lifetime as shown in Table 1. In the
recent earthquake, the structure received light damage localized
at the crown of the north arch. Moreover, historical records
show that Istanbul can expect to be severely shaken about once
every hundred years by a major earthquake that takes place in
the vicinity while suffering from smaller shocks about once a
decade or so in between as seen in Table 1.
To detect the onset of damage, loosening of a connection
or deterioration at the earliest possible stage is important
for structural safety. Vibration-based damage detection may
help find changes in modal properties. Properties or quantities
derived from the measured vibrations are being used as
indicators of damage. Damage is mostly a local phenomenon
and local response is captured by higher frequency modes
whereas lower frequency modes tend to capture the global
response of the structure. However, it should be pointed out that
in contrast to moment resisting shear frame reinforced concrete
structures, the response of the main structural system such as
an arch + dome type, directly affecting the global response
may have indicative changes in the lower frequency modes.
 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184
Drawing 1. Seismometer locations from the back courtyard viewed from
SouthEast towards NorthWest.
Table 2
Structural observation points
O1: On the key stone of the southeast arch.
O2: On the key stone of the west arch.
O3: On the key stone of the northwest arch.
O4: On the key stone of the northeast arch.
O5: On top of the south pier.
O6: On top of the west pier.
O7: On top of the north pier.
O8: On top of the east pier.
O9: At the entrance level.
O10: Free-field observation in the courtyard.
Moreover, recent studies have shown that resonant frequencies
have much less statistical variation from random error sources
than other modal parameters [7]. Therefore, only the dominant
frequency (i.e. first mode) might be unarguably promising
indicator for the historical constructions with low redundancy
and symmetry in plan and in both elevations. Furthermore,
frequency shifts for such structural members can indicate
important structural deteriorations because small changes in the
structure at different locations will cause different combinations
of changes in the modal frequencies at the important load-
carrying members like main arches.
In order to predict the structural responses, the mathematical
model of the structure is an essential step. Applicability of
the resulting mathematical model is restricted to the linear
or slightly nonlinear range of structural behavior. Therefore,
damage state at the time of the test and inspection in addition
to the verified mathematical model are considered in order
to clearly define the degree of damage as a measure of risk.
The structure under investigation received slight damage during
the Kocaeli earthquake of 1999 with the moment magnitude
of 7.4 was studied by the author [8] and it is seen that the
damage, as inspected visually, is light. Evaluation showed that
2167
the structural integrity was lightly damaged and localized at the
crown of the north main arch resulting in residual deformations.
Therefore, mathematical representation has been adequately
realistic for linear and slightly nonlinear analysis of the global
system for making safety analysis and defining the structural
characteristics involving extreme loading conditions such as the
earthquake to which the structure was subjected in 1999.
The ultimate objectives of using structural identification in
this study were (1) to define the best fittable mathematical
model representing the dynamic characteristics of the structure
from ambient measurement data, (2) to predict the structural
response to the Kocaeli earthquake of 1999 that was not
available due to lack of instrumentation during the earthquake,
this may provide an opportunity to concentrate instrumentation
for structural health monitoring (3) to evaluate the essential
engineering parameters of the structure in the light of enforcing
building code specifications for strengthen, and recently (4) to
shine more light on the applicability of structural identification
for structural safety and earthquake damage reduction of a
historically important structure in a cost-effective manner. It is
worthy to notice that the ambient measurement, low level test
results, were used to obtain high amplitude response data. There
is tolerable uncertainty in the mathematical model used to fully
represent the structural system due to low level damage.
Although it can be difficult in the field inspection of
some situations to determine the sequence of events and
distinguish the primary causes of damage from secondary
failures. Structural identification applied to an earthquake
data may provide a means of identifying failure mechanism.
Moreover earthquake response records of a structure provide
additional feedback information on structural damage history.
However, there might be a problem in structural load-carrying
components when responding in their nonlinear ranges. Thus,
methods must be applicable to nonlinear analysis or must be
robust enough to be applied to nonlinear response. In this
study, initially, it is assumed that the structure (model) under
investigation is subjected to recorded earthquake input motion,
and the predicted responses are obtained at the observation
points on the structure by the help of the corresponding
response functions inferred from the structural identification
study based on the ambient measurements. The use of simulated
response time histories at the structural points will allow
illustrating the influence of different engineering factors and
corresponding parameters pointed out in the specifications.
According to the findings, condition assessment of the structure
will be evaluated for the recent Turkish earthquake.
2. Architectural features of the structure
As shown in Drawing 2, the Fatih mosque was the first great
Turkish complex that was built in İstanbul, in between 1463 and
1470. Much of it was destroyed during a serious earthquake
in 1766. It was reopened in 1772 after altering to the present
form [9,10]. Little trace of which however survives today. As
a structural feature, the main dome of the mosque is flanked
by four semi domes and four cupolas flanking them. The main
dome rests on arches separated by four piers [9,10] as shown in
Drawing 1.
2168 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184

Drawing 2. Plan and elevation of the structure from SouthWest towards NorthEast.
 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184
3. Structural identification of the structure
Steel and reinforced concrete are ductile materials that
have linear elastic properties and good post-elastic strength
characteristics. After yielding, these materials maintain most of
their strength while undergoing substantial plastic deformations
and they can be analysed with reasonable accuracy using
analytic or computational methods. In contrast, since historical
buildings were not designed as moment resisting shear frame
reinforced concrete structures to resist cyclic shear or bending
moments at pier and arch connections, after cracks are initiated,
the behavior of brittle, unreinforced materials, such as stone
or adobe brick, is extremely difficult to predict even with
today’s advanced computational capabilities [11]. In a brittle
material, once yielding occurs, cracks develop and there is a
complete loss of tensile strength. After cracks have developed,
the seismic behavior of such a structure is dominated by the
interactions among large, cracked sections of the members that
rock out-of-plane and collide or rub against each other in-
plane [11].
In general, strength capacities of the arch, namely, sliding
capacity, rocking capacity and shear capacity are reduced. Such
strength reduction in the main arch and at the base level of the
main dome introduces deformations at the lower frequencies.
Similar results found in [12] states that the low frequency modal
properties significantly decrease at the progressing damage,
more than those reported for similar structures in literature. A
post-earthquake quick ambient vibration survey conducted in
Hagia Sophia showed a frequency drop in the first two modal
vibrational frequencies around the order of 4%–5%, indicating
locations where most of the damage might be expected during
a major earthquake close to Istanbul [13]. Past earthquake
damages and failure mechanism of the Fatih mosque also verify
the progressive damage and weak structural points [14]. One
compilation mentions the damages on dome and at the top
of the four piers during 1509 earthquake and about the 1766
earthquake, it gives the collapse of the main dome and piers,
sequentially [14].
3.1. Methodology for modal analysis
As a faster and reliable method to evaluate the safety of such
historical structures after an earthquake, assumed reference
(undamaged) structural configuration of the similar members
and the vibration measurements in the similar structural points
may be used for comparison. Difference between the damaged
structural component at the damaged frequency (i.e. it is not the
classical mode anymore.) and the undamaged frequency might
be an indicative anomaly pointing at two different states of
the main system members. To implement this idea in practice,
limited conditions should be followed as if (1) the data are not
available from both the undamaged and damaged structures,
(2) damage detection is primarily performed on the equally
load-carrying structural components of the main frame system
within the symmetry in plan and in both elevations, as seen
in Drawing 2, (3) location and severity of the damage in the
main frame system is important, (4) the damage affects the
2169
connectivity and global behavior as observed in this structure,
and (5) close eye inspection is available for correlation with the
measured features, then the damage level and location become
important definitions to clarify the damage as local or global
one.
Both nonparametric and parametric techniques are em-
ployed in order to cross-validate the results obtained for the
Fatih Mosque. Using recorded input and output datasets; para-
metric identification involves the estimation of system param-
eters, while nonparametric identification yields an estimate of
the characteristic structural transfer function (i.e. frequency re-
sponse function (FRF)) only. FRFs are the result of the Fourier
transforms of the responses at each selected structural point.
Processing is performed to estimate the parameters of the char-
acteristic transfer functions for each structural measurement
point in cases of the single-input–single-output (SISO) models
and multi-input–multi-output (MIMO) models. The philosophy
behind these models is that the natural frequencies and damp-
ing ratios do not vary from FRF to FRF and global properties of
a structure can be estimated by averaging out small variations
in modal properties inferred from several single analyses.
3.2. Instrumentation, calibration tests and data processing
In order to record the ambient vibrations of the structure,
a total of 10 single-component seismometers were mounted at
critical points as shown in Drawings 1 and 2 and described
in Table 2. Locations of the sensors are key points believed
to reflect the structural characteristics. The equipment used
for the measurement and the data acquisition are as follows;
Analog to digital converter, DT-2827 A/D board with 16 bit
A/D converter at a high speed of 100 kHz accommodating both
single-end and differential analog inputs, manufactured by Data
Translation Inc., Multiplexer card, DI-64x4-V2, manufactured
by Quesing Electronics, accepting up to 64 channels at 1000 Hz
sampled data and signal conditioner, SC-1 manufactured by
Kinemetrics. From Mark products, L22 type low frequency
seismometers with peak-to-peak 0.15 in. amplitude precision
were utilized for the tests. Digitized data is acquired at a rate
of 122 Hz through the A/D converter. In order to quantify
and minimize the effects of changing environmental conditions,
four sets of ambient vibration measurements were carried out
to identify the dynamic characteristics of the structure along
with the free-field measurements in the courtyard. Ambient
vibrations were recorded for each structural point for a duration
of 5 min in each setup.
After the structural measurements were completed, for
calibration purpose, another test was performed at the base
level of the structure for each direction corresponding to
symmetry axes of the rectangular structural geometry in plan.
To eliminate the effects of white noise, hardware problems
and effects of the different cable lengths, baseline correction
(linear and, if necessary nonlinear), decimation for eliminating
high frequency spikes and filtering between frequencies of
0.2 Hz and the Nyquist frequency were performed. In order to
compensate the differences in instrumental transfer functions,
other calibration tests were performed for logarithmically
2170 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184

Fig. 1. Displacement time histories for the recorded structural points. Dark lines and lightly colored lines represent the displacement of the structure and the ground,
respectively. Left two columns are for NE–SW direction and right ones is for NW–SE direction.

Fig. 2. Transfer functions of the observation points for one data set for NE–SW direction estimated from spectral analysis.

increasing amplitudes of the swept-sine excitation up to
frequency at which the seismometers yield almost constant
amplitude under the lab conditions.
Data pre-processing forms an important step in structural
identification. It includes resampling (from 122 Hz of
sampling frequency to 200 Hz), baseline correction (2nd order
polynomial fit in order to remove distortions, if necessary)
and smoothing. Since Savitzky–Golay filters are optimal in
the sense that they are more effective at preserving the
pertinent high frequency components of the signal while
minimizing the least-squares error in fitting a polynomial
to frames of noisy data [15]. Smoothing is performed by
SGolay filter [15] with window length of 21 samples and 5th
order filter for noise reduction without loss of high frequency
information component. Then, ambient vibration displacement
time histories of the structural points and the ground for two
directions are plotted in Fig. 1.
3.3. Nonparametric (spectral) analysis
In order to identify the frequency content of the structural
behavior, the transfer functions of the test points have been
calculated for both directions and the one for SW–NE direction
is plotted in Fig. 2. Except station 3, the spectral peaks at
 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184
Fig. 3. Power spectra of the ambient measurements recorded at the structural observation points (a) for NW–SE, (b) for NE–SW directions, and (c) for the basement
for NE–SW directions.
cornice-level stations at four springing points of main arches
and those at the crowns of the main arches at the dome-base
occur almost at the same frequencies. However, the spectral
peak at observation point 3 at the dome base displays a shift
to the lower frequencies unlike other locations. Figs. 3(a) and
(b) display the power spectra of the eight structural points along
the NW–SE and SW–NE directions, respectively. Power spectra
of the basement ambient vibration measurement in Fig. 3(c)
shows the fundamental frequency of the ground at about 1.8 Hz.
For NW–SE, spectral peaks are observed at 2.5, 3.5, 4.3,
5.3 Hz. The SW–NE spectra display broadband characteristics;
the peaks are located at 2.6, 3.2, and 4.5–5 Hz with small
differences in amplitudes between different structural points.
Station 3 behaves differently in low and high frequency
regions when compared with other observation points along
both directions. After close inspection at the crown region,
this unique difference may be explained only by the damage
received during 17 August 1999 Kocaeli earthquake. All these
evidences indicate that the data recorded at station 3 should
be studied in more detail. Wavelet Transform (WT) technique
2171
was applied to ambient measurement dataset to reconstruct the
original signal from the wavelet packet decomposition. Using
different levels of decompositions with wavelets of varying
decibels, noise in the records are examined satisfying the best
possible threshold criteria to compress the signal. Details can
be found in [15]. Removed noise as a residual is re-evaluated in
frequency domain to see any matching portions with the major
portion of the structural data. It is seen that the effects of the
noise in the analysis is not dominant and reconstructed signals
with retained energy of 81.49% is seen dominant.
3.4. Parametric analysis
Structural identification is the process of constructing and
calibrating a mathematical model of a physical system using
experimental data. The two major categories comprise time-
domain methods that use the time histories, and frequency-
domain methods that use the Frequency Response Functions
(FRF) of recorded input and output datasets. There are several
algorithms available for system identification within each
category, involving several parameters and options that must
2172 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184

Table 3a Although any real system has an infinite number of degrees

Modal frequencies and corresponding damping ratios for both directions from of freedom, from practical point of view, only a subset of
ambient measurements these is sufficient for identifying the structural characteristics.
NE–SW direction NW–SE direction However, from experimental point of view, it is not usually
Modal freq. Modal damping Modal freq. Modal damping (%) possible to measure all the responses of all modes. The
(Hz) (%) (Hz)
frequency range of an ambient measurement test is limited, and
2.31 7.70 2.42 4.80 therefore at least the high frequency modes will be omitted.
3.20 2.80 3.29 8.89
This omission reduces valuable contributions from higher
3.38 8.80 3.52 4.09
4.04 16.80 4.41 7.51 frequencies to the spectral amplitudes. On the other hand, if the
4.47 7.20 4.59 4.59 noise level is high, identification of the small amplitudes in high
4.88 4.60 5.38 4.54 frequency regions becomes exceedingly difficult. As a result,
6.02 14.20 5.58 16.43 the response of a candidate model may lack high frequency
7.45 3.90 5.99 10.31
information. To minimize this effect, error in the estimation can
8.27 10.10 7.19 8.32
9.32 10.90 7.56 12.67 then be regarded as a measured signal and included recursively
9.69 14.23 8.67 11.29 as an extra input to the proposed structural model in a separate
9.83 7.36 10.96 9.41 step that accounts for contributions of the undetectable modes.
10.66 9.02 11.94 5.11 Such a procedure is applied to the SDOF and MDOF models
11.14 7.01 16.75 7.24
and Figs. 4a and 4b were obtained with different levels
11.88 10.90 23.32 4.38
12.37 11.18 23.58 0.53 of distinguishable peak resolutions and corresponding phase
13.57 8.60 26.94 3.65 histories for each model for both the NW–SE and the SW–NE
16.74 7.30 29.84 3.95 directions. Figs. 5(a) and (b) display only the results from
MDOF models as one set per direction. Similarly, Figs. 6a
and 6b display the response functions of the SDOF model
be carefully tuned to fit the problems of interest. In this for SW–NE and NW–SE directions. As it may be seen from
study, (a) the Single Degree-of-Freedom (SDOF) system as a Figs. 5, 6a and 6b, the SDOF model captures the important
Single-Input, Single-Output (SISO) Autoregressive Exogenous peak frequencies with sufficient accuracy, but magnitudes are
Variable (ARX) model, and (b) the Multiple Degree-of- arguably small. Phase spectra display similarities for both
Freedom (MDOF) system as a Multiple-Input, Multiple- modes in some frequency regions. Estimated modal frequencies
Output (MIMO) ARX (multivariable matrix version) model and damping ratios are summarized in Tables 3a and 3b.
are adopted upon examining the current literature. Modal Overall, estimated structural damping ratios are scattered
deformations were obtained using a state-space model and the within the range of 0.53% and 16% in both directions for the
Observer/Kalman Filter Identification (OKID) technique [15– first 20 modes. On an average, damping ratios with 7% for
17]. In both types of models, the purpose is to determine NE–SW and 5% for NW–SE directions appear reasonable for
the optimum values of system’s parameters that minimize an the lower structural modal frequencies. Due to such significant
objective function, which is generally a nonlinear function variations in damping characteristics of the structure, peaks of
of the model parameters. There are many methods within the response functions become difficult to be identified directly.
this approach, and the particular one adopted here is the, This is in contrast to a lightly damped structure with well-
so-called, Eigensystem Realization Algorithm (ERA) [16– separated modes. Furthermore, such distribution in damping
18] that uses the system Markov parameters formed from ratios implies that, for the historical structures, defining global
input and output time histories via the time-varying Observer property characteristic for damping is difficult. In Fig. 5(a),
Kalman filter [17], which is a generalization of the steady- responses at the stations 1, 2, 3, and 4 (which are located at
state filter for time-varying systems. While performing the the crowns of the main arches) display almost the same peak
minimization with a potentially large number of parameters, magnitudes at the same frequency, i.e., 2.51 Hz for NE–SW
ERA maintains stability, which may be monitored using several direction, station 3 (which possesses smaller peak amplitude at
quality indicators for judging the quality of the identified a smaller frequency, 2.2 Hz) is exceptional and indicative of
structural modes. This method is adopted and coded in the an anomaly. Natural frequencies of the structure estimated by
present study. For the Fatih Mosque, modal frequencies and SDOF and MDOF systems are close to each other, and thus,
corresponding modal dampings for both directions inferred they can be accepted as global properties of the structure, at
from ambient measurements and Kocaeli earthquake are least for the first mode except station 3. Similar conclusion
provided in Tables 3a and 3b. Among the quality indicators, with different peak frequency for the NE–SW direction is also
constitutive modal indicator, modal history prediction, and inferred from the SISO and Spectral analyses, if compared.
normalized mode singular values are the important ones, which Station 3 among the crown stations exceptionally yields peak
need to be examined carefully; and these are summarized frequency at 1.8 Hz in spectral analysis as shown in Fig. 2
in Table 4 for the first five modes. The modes with higher and around 1.8 Hz in SISO analysis as shown in Fig. 6b. It is
percentages of consistency and prediction indicate that the arguable, but if true, such an observation implies that there may
predicted modal time history is in good agreement with the real be a practical avenue through the evaluation of the first mode
(observed) modal time history. estimated by SDOF models for identifying the deterioration on
 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184 2173

Table 3b
Modal frequencies and corresponding damping ratios for both directions during the Kocaeli earthquake

NE–SW direction NW–SE direction

Modal freq. (Hz) Modal damping (%) Modal freq. (Hz) Modal damping (%)
2.4883225e+000 7.4933063e+000 2.5089573e+000 5.8564881e+000
3.4334730e+000 2.3441801e+001 3.5621040e+000 4.5247098e+000
3.4694906e+000 1.6802500e+001 3.6956076e+000 1.6923441e+001
4.1965131e+000 2.3315835e+001 4.5282509e+000 9.7994566e+000
4.4694543e+000 1.8987999e+001 5.3621491e+000 1.2238391e+001
4.8945049e+000 6.1064589e+000 1.6606077e+001 1.1844866e+001
8.3053945e+000 2.3616803e+001 2.0640591e+001 1.2219507e+001
8.6929568e+000 1.5044813e+001 2.2339356e+001 1.0064771e+001
9.5306152e+000 2.6122402e+001 2.2961949e+001 1.6888579e+001
1.0506542e+001 9.4876572e+000 2.3592745e+001 2.4128330e-001
1.1687194e+001 3.6371853e+001 2.4461041e+001 1.2090285e+001
1.2516157e+001 1.7018392e+001 2.6451784e+001 9.3579437e+000
1.2629935e+001 2.4138799e+001 2.8158278e+001 7.2070563e+000
1.4835597e+001 1.2558358e+001 2.9384977e+001 8.4493757e+000
1.6593968e+001 1.6329474e+001 3.0687688e+001 5.3154160e+000
1.7389613e+001 1.2102474e+001 3.1066894e+001 8.9003975e+000
1.9294372e+001 2.3563513e+001 3.3240053e+001 9.8906741e+000
2.1573469e+001 8.1606835e+000 3.3839339e+001 4.2659901e+000
2.2119840e+001 1.7068919e+001 3.5222387e+001 6.7419194e+000
2.2203783e+001 7.2128219e+000 3.7271991e+001 5.7273603e+000

Table 4
Quality indicators of the identified modal characteristics

Modal frequency (Hz) Constitutive modal indicator Modal history prediction Mode singular value
NE–SW NW–SE NE–SW (%) NW–SE (%) NE–SW (%) NW–SE (%) NE–SW (%) NW–SE(%)
2.31 2.42 71.06 73.61 99.54 99.81 99.54 68.81
3.20 3.29 57.89 33.06 99.73 98.16 99.73 39.32
3.38 3.52 22.50 21.46 98.20 99.51 98.20 38.69
4.04 4.41 52.65 36.20 73.59 97.73 73.59 26.51
4.47 4.59 67.43 49.01 97.80 97.72 97.80 26.89

Table 5a
Descriptions for first five mode shapes of both directions from ambient measurements for both directions

Modes NW–SE direction NE–SW direction

1st mode Translation at the cornice level Breathing outwards at the base level Total lateral vibration @ 2.31 Hz
of the dome @ 2.42 Hz
2nd mode Breathing inwards at the cornice level, swaying laterally at the level Breathing outwards @ 3.20 Hz
of the dome base @ 3.29 Hz
3rd mode Squeezing vibration @ 3.52 Hz Squeezing vibrations @ 3.38 Hz
4th mode Breathing outwards @ 4.41 Hz Total lateral vibration @ 4.04 Hz
5th mode Antisymmetrically squeezing vibration @ 4.59 Hz Breathing out at the cornice
level,very small swaying laterally at
the level of the dome base @ 4.47 Hz

a structural component in symmetrical structures in plan and
in elevations with the members of equal importancy in global
dynamic behavior.
Every measurement is evaluated whether or not the
corresponding structure is nominally linear, weakly nonlinear
or strongly nonlinear. The distinction between these categories
is somewhat open to interpretation and on how the results are to
be used. Deviation from linear behavior may be an essential
information and the type of nonlinearity may be important
for further analysis. Linear behavior is uniquely defined but
nonlinear behavior is not, therefore the definition of weak or
strong nonlinearity is nonunique. In this study, it is proposed
that the weak nonlinear structural member is the one in which
the distribution of the normal probability density of the modal
displacements, irrespective of the frequency information, shows
many clips on either plus or minus one. Otherwise, linearity
will be the case if the distributions line up diagonally. For
this purpose, normal probability density functions of the modal
displacements of the structure have been plotted in Figs. 7a
and 7b for NE–SW and NW–SE directions, respectively.
Distribution of the station 3 seems identical to the clipped
modal displacements of the zero memory nonlinear system [19]
2174 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184

Table 5b
Descriptions of first ten deformed shapes of the structure under the Kocaeli earthquake for both directions

Modes NW–SE direction NE–SW direction

1st mode Lateral vibration in North direction at the cornice level, while the Total lateral vibration @ 2.48 Hz
dome base breathing outwards @ 2.5 Hz
2nd mode Antisymmetrically squeezing vibrations @ 3.56 Hz Breathing inwards @ 3.43 Hz
3rd mode Breathing inwards at the cornice level, swaying towards North at the Antisymmetrically squeezing vibrations @ 3.47 Hz
dome base @ 3.69 Hz
4th mode Antisymmetrically squeezing vibrations @ 4.52 Hz Breathing inwards at the cornice level, swaying laterally
towards West at the level of the dome base @ 4.19 Hz
5th mode Lateral vibration in North direction at the cornice level, while the Lateral vibration in West direction at the cornice level, while
dome base breathing out @ 5.36 Hz the dome base moving to the East @ 4.47 Hz
6th mode Slightly breathing inwards at the cornice level, North Arch moving Antisymmetrically squeezing vibrations @ 4.89 Hz
laterally seems dominant @16.6 Hz
7th mode Breathing inwards at the cornice level, breathing outwards at the level Total lateral vibration @ 8.30 Hz
of the dome base @20.64 Hz
8th mode Almost laterally moving at the cornice level, only North arch moves at Breathing outwards @ 8.69 Hz
the level of the dome base @ 22.33 Hz
9th mode Antisymmetrically squeezing vibrations at the cornice level, breathing Antisymmetrically squeezing vibrations at the cornice level
outwards at the level of dome base @ 22.96 Hz while dome base level symmetrically breathing out @
9.53 Hz
10th mode North arch moves laterally seems dominant @ 23.59 Hz Mode five but in opposite sense @ 10.5 Hz

Fig. 4a. Transfer functions and the phase histories of the Structural points estimated from SDOF (dashed) and MDOF (solid) systems for one set of ambient
measurement for NE–SW.

since the normal probability density function of station 3 at the station 3 presuming a serious anomaly and reasons
exceptionally clips at plus and minus one when compared need to be found. All analysis, namely spectral, parametric
with others. Such a distribution shows that the maximum SDOF and MDOF models yield almost same result for station
modal displacements over all the modal frequencies generated 3 alarming seriously in SW–NE direction. Similar densely
 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184 2175

Fig. 4b. Transfer functions and the phase histories of the Structural points estimated from SDOF (dashed) and MDOF (solid) systems for one set of ambient
measurement for NW–SE.

Fig. 5. All transfer functions of the observation points for one dataset (a) for NE–SW, (b) for NW–SE directions estimated from the analysis of the MDOF system.
At the first modal frequency, four stations located at the crowns of the main arches have identical response except station 3 with less peak frequency and magnitude.

distributed normalized modal displacements with a positive
unit value is seen for station 1 for NE–SW direction. It is
arguable, but station 1 also needs visual and instrumental
inspection to explain the reason. As a result, normal probability
density function of the modal displacements of station 3
with intensively distributed normalized maxima looking like a
clipped system is a promising indice for detecting an anomaly
on structural member when compared with the others in
ambient vibration studies.
4. Structural response to the 17 August Kocaeli earthquake
This section aims to (a) estimate the structural responses to
the recent great Turkish earthquake, (b) discuss the findings in
the light of today’s knowhow and the code issued in 2007 for
post-earthquake safety evaluation and (c) identify engineering
issues that must be dealt with before the next earthquake
strikes the city, Istanbul. During this progress, although it is
important to assess site effects, topographic effects and other
2176 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184

Fig. 6a. SISO transfer functions of the ARX structural models selected from many candidates based on the estimation performance for NW–SE direction.

Fig. 6b. SISO transfer functions of the ARX structural models selected from many candidates based on the estimation performance for SW–NE direction.

Table 6 earthquake related hazard issues. It is believed that the strong

Stations of the Kandilli observatory and earthquake research institute ground motion data recorded at the backyard of the structure
(K.O.E.R.I) and conditions via transmitting to the structure from the base represents such
K.O.E.R.I stations Distance to Site–Soil–Class (m/s) effects inherently.
epicenter (km)
ARC (Gebze) 17 Stiff soil 180–360 4.1. Engineering properties of the strong ground motion
ATS (AmbarlıTermik S) 78.9 Soft soil <180
BTS (Botas) 136.3 Stiff soil 180–360 The fact is that, at the site, there has been a recorded
BUR (Bursa TOFAS) 66.6 Soft soil <180 earthquake with about 0.2g peak ground acceleration of the
CNA (Cekmece Nukleer A) 76.1 Stiff soil 180–360
moment magnitude of 7.4 occurred after a certain period
DHM (Devlet Hava Mey) 69.3 Stiff soil 180–360
FAT (Fatih mosque) 64.5 Soft soil <180 of time. This does not mean that larger values will not be
HAS (Heybeliada Ask Has) 40 Rock >700 observed in future, but such a larger event and corresponding
YPT (Yarımca Petro K T) 4.4 Soft soil >180 return period shows that the probability of the structure being
subjected to this earthquake during its lifetime has high
 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184 2177

Fig. 7a. Normal probability densities of the modal displacements of the structure for NE–SW direction. Clipped modal displacements at mines and plus unit values
are the values normalized with respect to the maxima of each mode and is strongly seen at station 3.

Fig. 7b. Normal probability densities of the modal displacements of the structure for NW–SE direction. Clipped modal displacements at mines and plus unit values
are the values normalized with respect to the maxima of each mode. Such a property is strongly seen at station 3.

possibility. For this reason, in the study the 17 August 1999
Kocaeli earthquake is used as an input to the historical structure.
Corrected main shock is replotted for 100 s-window for the FAT
station in Fig. 8.
One of the essential parameters used in engineering
applications and characterizing the seismic motion is the
maximum ground acceleration of the recorded data at a given
site. The maximum acceleration has been observed to be
statistically dependent on the magnitude of the earthquake.
Hence it is dependent on the severity of the seismic source, and
is also highly dependent on the distance to the epicentre, soil
characteristics and other local site conditions such as subsurface
irregularity and the topographical effects [20]. Fig. 9 shows the
type of relationship that exists between acceleration magnitude,
2178 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184
Fig. 8. With three components, the 17 August 1999 Kocaeli earthquake
recorded at the courtyard of the historical building for 100 s.-window.
Fig. 9. Magnitudes and distances of the different responses of the ground
motion recording stations. Top figure for NS direction (fault normal), bottom
for EW direction (fault parallel), locations and features are given in the legend.
ag , and distance for different responses of the ground motion
recording stations of the K.O.E.R.I listed in the Table 6, during
the 17 August 1999 Kocaeli earthquake. Soil information
underneath the stations are collected from local geologic maps
and confirmed with the shear wave velocity values of the bore
Fig. 10. Arias intensity maps for the main shock recorded at different soil
conditions (a) for NS direction, (b) for EW direction.
logs. Fig. 9 also provides amplifications of the peak ground
accelerations relative to the outcrop station, HAS. For station
FAT, peak amplification ratios are relatively 4 times larger for
the NS direction, and 1.3 times for the EW direction.
The duration of ground motion is another parameter of great
interest when utilized for assessing the seismic hazard of a
given site and the nonlinear response of a structure as well. It is
believed as a rule of thumb that the duration of an earthquake at
a given site increases with the magnitude, epicentral distance,
and the depth of the soil above bedrock. The accumulation of
structural damage, which is related to the nonlinear behavior
of the structure, may lead to structural failure, and it can be
highly affected by the total time that a structure is subjected to
strong ground motion. An earthquake with a larger magnitude
may represent a smaller hazard than an earthquake with a
smaller magnitude but larger duration or even a series of smaller
magnitude earthquakes. Kocaeli earthquake recorded at the
backyard of the structure at a distance of 65 km have about 153
s record length with the first shock in first 15 s followed by other
shocks within 50 s, as seen in Fig. 8. Influence of the duration
of the earthquake to the structural behavior is emphasized based
 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184
Fig. 11. Pseudo-acceleration spectra for the K.O.E.R.I stations for 5% damping
ratio (a) for the NS direction, (b) for the EW direction.
on the cumulative squared acceleration over the time (Arias
intensity method) as proposed by Arias, [21] and Trifunac [22].
The duration of strong shaking is illustrated in Figs. 10(a)
and (b). It is seen in these figures that the first shock and the
duration of strong shaking takes about 5–7 s with the 50% and
70% input energies for EW and NS components respectively
for the station FAT. Steadily increasing input energy reaching
the 75% and 87% of the total takes 24 s for both directions and
lasted approximately for another 4–5 s with the 95% of the total
input energy. Effective energy input is believed to be completed
between the 5% and 95% of the total. Corresponding duration
in between these ratios is about 32–33 s for both directions
for the station FAT indicated by the bold line. These findings
also match with the significant parts of the strong shaking in
the acceleration record, which is replotted for 100 s-window
for the FAT station in Fig. 8. As seen in Fig. 10, the station
HAS on rock exhibits characteristics exceptionally different
from others.
Figs. 11(a) and (b) show the pseudo-acceleration response
spectra for 5% damping for nine stations as summarized in
Table 6, located in near- and far-field regions. Stations YPT, and
ARC are near-field stations with two different soil types. Station
2179
BUR is selected as a far-field station at a distance of the 66.6
km in the South of the North Anatolian Fault (NAF) in order
to compare the response of the average soil with the stations
located in the North plate which moves towards to the right
(right lateral strike–slip displacement) during the earthquakes
of the NAF. Station HAS is located on an island in the south-
east of Istanbul assumed to be an outcrop representing the
nearest rock formation for both the epicentral area and Istanbul.
Other three stations, FAT, DHM, and CNA are located in the
central Istanbul and towards the West districts, representing
different soil formations. Far west stations ATS and BTS
are other two soft soil and stiff soil stations included for
comparison. For engineering assessment, the current Turkish
seismic design spectra (upgraded and issued in 2007 [23])
points out the site class as Z2 for soft soil conditions in Fatih
region and seismic zone to be 1 (the highest). Calculated elastic
response spectrum of the Fatih record has the larger amplitudes
at the period of 0.55 s (with a broadband characteristic) and
larger than the amplitudes of the design spectrum with 10%
probability of excedance in 50 years (for new constructions)
for North–South direction. Peak elastic response seen at 0.55
s verifies the 1.8 Hz of the fundamental frequency of the
base measurements as shown in Fig. 3(c). Larger local site
response peak during the 17 August 1999 Kocaeli earthquake
suggests that the current seismic design code is not adequate
for this region if the reduction factors for ductile design is
considered. Newly designed structures in this region will have
serious problem during an intensive earthquake. Duration of
the shocks extending up to 60 s in a total recording length
of 135 s with the larger spectral seismic load characteristic
indicates that the behavior of the historical structure to such a
ground shock performed well dissipating the energy inputs. For
strengthening, larger local peaks at the period of 0.55 s suggest
that, as the minimum requirement in current seismic design
code, the 2% probability of exceedance of the 5% damped
elastic design acceleration spectrum within a period of 50 years
is adequate. Natural periods of the structure influencing the
structural dynamics were investigated. First modal frequency is
found as 2.4 and 2.5 Hz for NS and EW directions respectively.
First mode of the structure falls into the range of the dominant
broadband period of the seismic loading. Such a match points
out the resonance possibility, which might have occurred during
the earthquake. The duration of the earthquake and following
shocks of many small earthquakes in addition to the resonance
might be the key contributors to the damage.
4.2. Simulation of the structural responses to the recent Turkish
earthquake
After identifying highly capable state-space model, success
of the identification is tested using different measures such
as error/residual minimization criteria (quality indicators)
and comparing the estimates of the transfer functions with
recorded one. For post-earthquake performance of the historical
structure, the acceleration, velocity and displacement responses
at eight structural points to the available earthquake input
motion are estimated adequately and displacement responses
2180 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184
Fig. 12. Structural displacement responses to the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake for EW direction.
for NE–SW direction are plotted in Fig. 12 as an example. For
a perfectly symmetric structure, all these responses therefore
mass partitions are expected to be uncoupled, whereas due
to either asymmetry of the structural system or the damage
pattern, off-diagonal elements in stiffness matrices therefore
partitions may be coupled and its indications may be observed
visually in the response time histories, depending on the
particular damage as identified by close inspection. However,
displacement responses show almost symmetrical behavior
with same polarizations at each observation point.
On the displacement time history, in terms of the identified
damage, there does not strongly seem to be a substantial
difference in global scale between the behaviors of the damaged
and undamaged structural points. Structural movement in the
history plots shows that the points are almost in same phase
at each level. This may be justified if the difference in the
damage patterns simply does not strongly show up in the data
and it is suspected that the damage is local and small (i.e. there
seems to be a small shift in the identified frequencies indicating
the damage possibility in Figs. 5(a) and (b) in this case).
However, small shift in peak frequency also can be considered
to be within the noise tolerance for some cases, and hence
cannot be directly attributed to a real damage when no real
physical evidence on the structural member is observed. But
it is obvious that such 10% difference in the first fundamental
peak frequency for station 3 indicates a damage as observed.
For both the main directions, fundamental deformed shapes
of the structure under the Kocaeli earthquake have also
been estimated by using the MIMO parametric model coded
in MatLab package [15] equivalent to the MDOF system.
Descriptions are given for first 10 modes (i.e. it is not classic
modes, fundamental deformed shapes under forced vibration)
in Table 5b. Identified first five deformed shapes under the
Kocaeli earthquake are plotted in Fig. 13 for both directions,
namely NW–SE in left two columns and NE–SW in right two
columns within two subsets, plan view and isometric view.
Light solid lines are for undeformed structure and dark one is
for deformed shape. Earthquake vibrated deformed shapes look
like the ambient vibrated mode shapes with small differences
when Tables 5a and 5b are compared.
5. Post-earthquake safety evaluation
As a standard approach, post-earthquake safety evaluation
can be performed by spectral analysis for the design spectrum
seismic loading issued by the building code. It has been
common practice to represent the design ground motions
using macro acceleration response spectra developed through
statistical processing of raw spectra from a collection of
earthquake time histories recorded on different site conditions.
A deficiency of these spectra is that they do not represent true
values of the same probability of exceedance for a specified
return period of time. Therefore, the probability of exceedance
of the spectral value at any specified period is not well-known.
Bearing this deficiency in the mind, for major structures,
to develop a site dependent design spectrum including the
 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184 2181

Fig. 13. Identified dominant First five deformed shapes of the structure under the Kocaeli earthquake in isometric and plan views for the EW (first two columns)
and NS (right two columns). Light solid lines are for undeformed and black solid lines for deformed structure.

effect of local soil and site conditions and distance to the
nearest faults may be one way to overcome the problem of
the design spectra. Such a study needs collection of the past
earthquakes recorded at the vicinity therefore instrumentation
is essential. Contrary to this fact, at the site, there is one
recorded earthquake with about 0.2g peak ground acceleration
of the moment magnitude of 7.4 earthquake which occurred
after a certain period of time like a century. For such a larger
event, corresponding return period shows that the probability
of the structure being subjected to such an earthquake during
its lifetime has high possibility. It is obvious that the available
data is very limited to perform such analysis. In this study,
instead, the 17 August 1999 Kocaeli earthquake, recorded at
the backyard, is used as an input excitation to the historical
structure through the structural identification analysis approach
in order to provide how the structure behaves at large response
2182 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184

Fig. 14. Elastic response spectra with 5% damping ratios for NS direction (a) PSV and (b) PSA. Left column for structural responses to the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake,
right one for ambient measurements from the structural points.

levels. In Figs. 14(a) and (b), elastic response spectra of a SDOF
model with 5% damping ratio for the estimated velocity and
acceleration responses as well as the ambient vibration data in
the NS direction are plotted. In Fig. 14(a), PSV values of the
structural points and the PSV values of the NS component of
the recent earthquake data yields their dominant peaks at about
the same period, 0.5–0.6 s. This fact points out the resonance
condition building up during the earthquake, receiving high
kinetic energy. First period of the structure is also about 0.4 and
0.45 s in each direction attracting high velocity input energy
 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184
Fig. 15. Cumulative kinetic energy of the structural responses to the bulk of the
earthquake input energy in between 5–95% is sustained through the time period
of 35 s (a) for the EW direction and (b) for NS direction.
that allows the structure to become adapted to the earthquake
oscillation. This adaption and the duration took about 35 s as
seen in Fig. 15(b) for NS direction. Fig. 14(b) shows the input
force level involved into the structure (earthquake input) and the
received force by the structural points during the earthquake.
When the level of the input acceleration is compared with
the recent earthquake and code proposed seismic design load,
following are noteworthy to be mentioned. Code design seismic
load spectrum is an approximation of an elastic response
spectrum, scaled down by two factors in many regulations. (1)
It is reduced by the factor of safety used in allowable stress
design so as to achieve the given yield strength, therefore, stress
design must aim at a lower strength. (2) It is also reduced by the
R factor to account for damping and ductility. This may go up
to inelastic spectrum which accounts for the effect of ductility
in limiting force levels, or structure can be designed based on
the assumption of the elastic theory, but during an earthquake
the geometry and material may fail due to insufficient design
for the real seismic loading. Such facts show that the major
structures, along with the historical ones, need elaborate design
2183
loads. It is still arguable but this gap is fullfilled somehow by the
recent Turkish code [23], and it suggests that, as the minimum
requirement for the earthquake resistant design of buildings,
in accordance with the strengthening applications, the 2%
probability of exceedance of the 5% damped elastic design
acceleration spectrum within a period of 50 years is adequate.
In this case, the basic values of the elastic spectra presented in
the code for new constructions are modified accordingly by 1.5
times.
6. Conclusions
This paper presents the results of the structural identifica-
tion of a historical structure damaged during 17 August 1999
Kocaeli earthquake. Results of the structural models and meth-
ods are cross-validated in order to identify the reliable dynamic
characteristics. The standard spectral analysis techniques that
are commonly used to characterize the structure are very sensi-
tive to noise in the records. Whereas parametric analysis tech-
niques provide theoretically more accurate estimates of trans-
fer functions for damage detection, optimizing powerful time-
varying filters as estimation algorithms to remove the effects of
random media disturbances in records.
Spectral analysis of the eight structural points yields average
peak frequencies, respectively at around 2.5, 3.5, 4.3, 5.3 Hz
and so on for NW–SE direction. Similarly for the SW–NE
direction, peaks are seen at around 2.6, 3.2, 4.5–5 Hz with
a broadband characteristic with small differences in peak
amplitudes. Among the stations, station 3 behaves differently
than the other observation points in low and high frequency
regions indicating that the data recorded at station 3 should
be examined in more detail. For this purpose, in this study,
(a) the SDOF system as a SISO-ARX model, and (b) the
MDOF system as a MIMO-ARX model are adopted and modal
deformations are obtained using a state-space model with the
OKID technique. The SDOF model captures the important
peak frequencies with sufficient accuracy, but magnitudes are
arguably small. In MDOF model, responses at the crown
stations 1, 2, 3, and 4 display almost the same peak magnitudes
at the same frequency, i.e., 2.51 Hz for NE–SW direction,
but station 3 (which possesses smaller peak amplitude at a
smaller frequency, 2.2 Hz) is exceptional and indicative of
an anomaly. Similar conclusion with different peak frequency
for the NE–SW direction is also inferred from the SISO and
Spectral analyses, if compared. Station 3 among the crown
stations exceptionally yields peak frequency at 1.8 Hz in
spectral analysis and around 1.8 Hz in SISO analysis. Natural
frequencies of the structure estimated by SDOF and MDOF
systems are close to each other, and thus, they can be accepted
as global properties of the structure, at least for the first
mode, except station 3. It is arguable, but if true, such an
observation implies that there might be a practical avenue
through the evaluation of the first mode of the structural points
estimated by spectral, SDOF and MDOF models for identifying
the deterioration on a structural component in symmetrical
structures in plan and in elevations with the members of equal
importancy in global dynamic behavior for the stone masonry
arch dome type historical structures.
2184 K. Beyen / Engineering Structures 30 (2008) 2165–2184
For both main directions, deformed shapes of the structure
under both the earthquake vibrations and ambient vibrations
also have been estimated by using the MIMO parametric
model equivalent to the MDOF system. Modeshapes confirm
indicative deformed shape at station 3 for the first mode for the
NE–SW direction. Descriptions of the first five mode shapes for
both directions are summarized in Table 5a.
Calculated elastic response spectrum of the Fatih record
has larger amplitudes at the period of 0.55 s (with broadband
characteristic) and larger than the amplitudes of the design
spectrum with 10% probability of excedance in 50 years (for
new constructions) for North–South direction. These larger
local peaks at 0.55 s; (1) verify the 1.8 Hz of the fundamental
frequency of the local ground and (2) suggest that, as the
minimum requirement for the earthquake resistant design of
buildings, in accordance with the strengthening applications in
current seismic design code, the 2% probability of exceedance
of the 5% damped elastic design acceleration spectrum within
a period of 50 years is adequate.
First mode of the structure, 2.4 and 2.5 Hz for NS and EW
directions respectively, falls into the range of the dominant
broadband period of the seismic loading. Such a match points
out the resonance possibility, which might have occurred during
the earthquake. The duration of the earthquake and following
shocks of many small earthquakes in addition to the resonance
might be the key contributors to the damage.
Many structurally critical points are discussed and under-
lined in detail for structural safety. Especially station 3 located
at the crown of the NW main arch can be prone to intensive
damage under a new expected earthquake of Istanbul in future
even with a smaller magnitude if compared with the recent 17
August 1999 Kocaeli earthquake.
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