On the vulnerability of the Shrine of Prophet Daniel through field observation and numerical simulation

The Shrine of Prophet Daniel, located in the south-western part of Iran, represents one of the great examples of the pure brick cultural heritage buildings. This study summarizes the historical background of the shrine building. The structural parts of the building are covered in detail. The existing damages to different parts of the building are classified and the cause of each damage type is elaborated. Several in-situ and laboratory standard tests were carried out to determine the most important material characteristics of the building. Field observations and tests results prove that the building has mostly suffered from the ascending moisture which caused foundation settlement and material deterioration in some parts. In order to evaluate the effects of these imperfections on the response of the structure, the second phase of study including the numerical modeling is performed. Through performing nonlinear finite-element simulations and equivalent lateral static force method, having used the limited available data from the previous phase of assessment, it is concluded that the Shrine of Prophet Daniel is vulnerable against the design level earthquake and proper retrofit measures should be considered to improve its seismic performance.