The Study of Seismic Destruction of an Adobe Shop in the Bam Citadel and its Restoration Plan

After the destruction of the Bam citadel by the earthquake in 2003, the restoration of the citadel started based on a ten-year action plan. Due to lack of enough experience and knowledge for restoration and strengthening of historical adobe structures in Iran and in order to elevate the experience and knowledge, the study of the causes of destruction of an adobe shop in the bazaar of the citadel and preparation of its restoration and strengthening plan was performed as a pilot project. The main objective was the restoration of the adobe shop to its situation before the earthquake and strengthening in order to withstand future earthquakes. The research method is descriptive-analytical and the data has been collected by library studies and field research. After studying existent literature about the history and architecture of the citadel and shops of bazaar, and the vernacular techniques and materials used in their construction, a wide fieldwork for documentation and pathology was conducted. The strengthening and restoration plan was suggested based on charters for restoration of historical buildings and then it was simulated by the ANSYS code. Obtained results indicate that if the building is restored without strengthening it will have a weak behaviour against future earthquakes and it will experience the same damages. Analyses show that it is possible to improve structural behaviour and eliminate seismic damages by inserting a number of strengthening wooden elements at the corners of walls and edges of openings and then tying them to the roof level as a reversible method with the minimum intervention. In addition, by underpinning and partial reconstruction, grout injection and reconstruction of missing connections it is possible to restore the building stronger than before so that it would have an acceptable strength against future earthquakes.