Structural Dynamic Analysis of Huqiu Pagoda Under the Influence of Earthquake

As an important masonry structure, the ancient masonry pagoda represents the history and culture of a country. Damage to the pagoda is mainly caused by earthquakes. Many experts and scholars have proposed lots of feasible schemes for the simulation analysis of masonry pagoda fragility, among which finite element numerical simulation is representative. At the same time, in order to help non-professionals quickly assess the collapse mechanism of masonry structures, manual limit analysis is also a fast and effective way. In view of this, this paper chooses an ancient Chinese masonry pagoda with an octagonal horizontal plane—Huqiu pagoda as a case. It performs pushover and nonlinear dynamic analysis simulations in the Abaqus which is the most common simulation software. The research selects the processed seismic waves of the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake in China as the accelerogram. Manual limit analysis was also used as an auxiliary technique to compare the results of the finite element simulation. The research results depict that with the effect of the seismic waves, Huqiu pagoda develops bottom-up crack damage and activates the bending mechanism at the bottom.