Assesment of the historical Erzurum Karaz Bridge in terms of structural earthquake perspective

They appear to be structures that have a very important place in defining the civilizations that lived on historical buildings. In order to preserve historical buildings and pass them on to future generations, restoration and related strengthening practices are carried out as a result of structural performance analyzes and structural health monitoring studies. In this study, the Historical Karaz Bridge, which is in the form of an arch with a masonry stone wall bearing system and located within the borders of Erzurum Province, Turkey, was evaluated from a seismic perspective. As a result of the evaluations, it was aimed to investigate whether there was a need for reinforcement to protect the cultural structure and structural safety of the Historical Karaz Bridge. In line with the purposes of the research, the time history analysis method was preferred for the seismic evaluation of the Karaz Bridge. For analyzes in the time domain, data from 11 different earthquakes experienced around the world were used by scaling them specific to the structure. Time history analyzes performed according to today's accepted standards have shown that the bridge has limited displacement. In addition, it has been determined that there is limited stress distribution in the supporting support of the Bridge and at the same time, a sufficient damping mechanism has been formed against possible earthquakes. As a result of the study, it was concluded that there was no need for any strengthening process since the Historical Bridge exhibited performance at the usable limit level.