Evaluation of masonry minarets collapsed by a strong wind under uncertainty

A strong wind hit Aksaray province in Turkey on the March 12, 2013. In this natural disaster, two masonry minarets collapsed and one minaret slightly damaged. Fortunately, there was no human injured. In this paper, detailed information about the collapse mechanism of the minarets is given with some illustrative photographs, and a finite element analysis is performed on a collapsed minaret. Here, wind loads that influence on masonry minarets are examined by the use of statistical methods. That is why, the wind speed data are obtained by Turkish State Meteorological Service for Aksaray province. In addition to these data, the other wind load parameters are evaluated in accordance with the published data and knowledge in the international literature. Two analyses are performed on the minaret according to dead loading and wind loading. Some useful information is given about the mistakes during the construction stage of the minarets based on these analyses. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015