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Seismic Vulnerability of South Indian Temples

Conference Paper · December 2008

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 Seismic Vulnerability of South Indian Temples
A. Jetson Ronald 1 , A. Meher Prasad1, D. Menon1, A. Menon 2 & G. Magenes2

Abstract

Olden temples are a legacy to the cultural heritage of the nation. The South Indian architecture is
often represented by temples and several temples in South India fall in UNESCO’S world heritage
site list. The gopuram and the mandapam are the two important and recurrent structures in South
Indian temples which could be seismically vulnerable. The present study addresses the seismic
assessment of these structures. The study has addressed all important issues such as seismic
hazard assessment for the site, ground response analysis, soil-structure interaction and structural
assessment. The study shows that the mandapams are quite vulnerable even for low intensities of
ground motions and the mode of failure is overturning. The study also reveals that, while the
gopuram is safe for low intensities of ground motions, they might be vulnerable to higher intensity
ground motions.

INTRODUCTION
The architecture of ancient Indian temples showcases the country's old, rich and splendid
culture. Unfortunately these temples have suffered from both natural and man-made
disasters through the ages. As a result of these events, several temples have been
damaged, some are in ruins and some have even been lost. Although, the seismicity of
Southern parts of the country is less compared to the Northern parts, the cultural values
of these temples demand a proper seismic evaluation. A recent study on the widespread
damage sustained by the architectural heritage in the Bhuj after the earthquake in 2001,
has highlighted the deficiencies of historic masonry structures in seismically active
regions in India (D’Ayala, 2005). Hence, there arises the urgent need for identifying
highly vulnerable building stocks and developing strategies to mitigate their seismic risk.
The common structural forms in South Indian temples are vimanam, mandapam,
gopuram, and precinct wall; among these structures, gopurams and mandapams could be
seismically sensitive because of their size and configuration. Hence, the present study
has focused only on these structures. The objective of the present study is to understand
the seismic response of gopuram and mandapam which are important and recurrent
structural forms in South Indian temples. The motivation for the present study is to
protect these structures from catastrophic earthquakes and such type of studies focusing
on South Indian temples are not reported in the literature.

1
Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras
2
Department of Structural Mechanics, University of Pavia, Italy
MOTIVATION FOR THE PRESENT STUDY
The ancient masonry structures are particularly vulnerable to seismic action. The
safety of these historic masonry structures against earthquake-induced damage is
a subject of priority in view of the fact that they testify the cultural and historical
aspects of the region and adds to its identity. These structures due to some
inherent characteristics (e.g. large mass, brittle materials and lack of effective
connections among structural members) could be vulnerable to the effects of
earthquakes, which are significant in a country like India where a large area falls
under seismic zones 3 and above. Temple buildings, which represent a large
portion of the Indian cultural heritage, have demonstrated during past
earthquakes to be susceptible to damage and are prone to partial or total
collapse. The earthquake in Bhuj (2001) has exposed the need for the study of
historic centres against earthquakes. Older construction, comprising of both non-
engineered constructions and structures designed in accordance with outdated
codes might not comply with current seismic safety standards or increased
demands. Existing building stocks in historic centres pose a much greater
problem of seismic safety in comparison to new constructions designed
according to modern codes. The effect of aging, non-engineered masonry
construction (lack ductility) and lack of maintenance make these structures more
vulnerable. Also temples structures were designed by stapathies (temple
architects) who were skilled in carvings and giving sculptural ornamentation
effects to the structure than ensuring structural stability. Though these structural
systems resist vertical loads perfectly, they are not always adequate to withstand
horizontal forces due to seismic actions. Due to the high priority of architectural
importance the structure is lumped with large amount of mass, which attracts
large forces during ground motion.
STRUCTURAL SYSTEM OF GOPURAM
Generally the gopuram is the tallest structure in any South Indian temple (Fig.2)
and located at the entrance of the temple. It is rectangular in plan with reducing
floor area with height. It can be classified according to the number of storeys.
Stair cases are provided inside for access to the top of the gopuram. The height
of the 9- tier gopuram is 47m with a base dimension of 25m X 18m and it is one
of the tallest gopurams in South India. Depth of the foundation is not more than
3m and is mainly of irregular stone block masonry. The walls of gopuram are of
multi leaves masonry construction. The outer leaves of the bottom storey are of
stone masonry and the remaining storeys are of brick masonry and the inner core
is of rubble masonry. The floor of the gopuram is made with Madras terrace
system. Gopurams are elegantly decorated with sculpture and carvings derived
from the Hindu mythology, particularly those associated with the presiding deity
of the temple. The gopuram symbolizes Dravidian architecture.
STRUCTURAL SYSTEM OF MANDAPAM
Mandapams are pillared outdoor structure, with multi-functional use. These
structures are supported by means of numerous carved stone pillars in a
harmonious arrangement. The purpose of the mandapam is to conduct special
prayers and religious discourse, meant to be devotees’ rest place and an aesthetic
element. The major structural members of the mandapams are the pillar, corbel
and beam and they are bonded together by lime mortar. Generally, pillars are
monolithic with a height of about 3m. The spacing of the pillars ranges between
2m to 3m, arranged symmetrically. Every pillar is provided with a corbel. The
roof of the mandapam is made up of stone slabs arranged next to each other and
packed with lime mortar. The important temples usually have few numbers of
mandapams intended for different usages. Mandapams can be classified
according to the number of supporting pillars. The simplest form of mandapam
would have four pillars and the bigger ones would have as many as 50 pillars,
called four-pillared mandapam and thousand-pillared mandapam respectively.
METHODOLOGY ADOPTED
Typical structural forms such as a 9 tier gopuram, a 4-pillared mandapam (Fig.8)
and a 16 pillared mandapam were selected for seismic evaluation. These
structures have been identified from Ekambaranathar temple in Kanchipuram as
representative samples. This is one of the most ancient temples in India and has
been in existence even prior to 600 AD. A holistic approach of seismic
vulnerability assessment has been carried out for the structures. The scope of the
study includes seismic hazard assessment of the site, ground response analysis,
soil structure interaction and structural assessment.
Seismic Hazard of the Site
Considering the special importance of these structures, a probabilistic seismic
hazard study (PSHA) has been carried out by Ornthammarath et al (2008) for the
site in Kanchipuram. It is understood from their study that low to moderate
magnitude of earthquake dominate the seismic hazard. Also, hazard from
earthquakes at long distances from the site is negligence compared to events at
short distance. The de-aggregation of seismic hazard shows that an earthquake
of magnitude 4.1 - 5MW at 17.29km from the site, controls the hazard for the
site. Peak ground accelerations (PGA) for different return periods have been
tabulated (Table2) for both horizontal motion (PHA) and vertical motion (PVA)
and the horizontal and vertical uniform hazard spectra (Fig.1 ) have been plotted
for these PGAs. The spectral compatibility method was used to select these time
history functions. The scaling factor used to match the PGAs ranges between
0.37 and 2.36.
Geotechnical Investigation
Geotechnical properties such ac shear wave velocity, density, damping and
depth of the soil layer are necessary the for appropriate site response analysis as
well as for soil structure interaction. Invasive and non-Invasive are two
categories of geophysical investigation techniques carried out towards this task.
Bore hole test was used for Invasive type of investigation and the Multi Channel
Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) technique was used for the noninvasive
type of investigation. Results from both approaches were comparable.
Ground Response Analysis
The free field motion differs considerably from the bed rock motion and this
difference is caused by the dynamic properties of soil deposit over the bed rock.
Evaluation of this effect is referred to as ground response analysis. However, the
detailed ground response analysis for the site is out of scope of this work and
spectra used for the analysis are based on rocky site. Nevertheless, the most
important dynamic parameter which decides the damage levels in the structure
i.e. fundamental frequency of the site has been estimated to be 3.63Hz.
Unfortunately the fundamental frequency of mandapams is closely matching
with the frequency of the site. Therefore, those structures can be expected to
undergo more damage due to resonance effects, compared to structures whose
frequencies are away from the site frequency. The dynamic springs have been
used to account for SSI effects. These dynamic spring constants have been
calculated based on geometry of the foundation as well as the properties of the
soil.
Average shear wave velocity from bore hole tests = 379m/s
Average shear wave velocity from MASW = 348m/s
Structural Investigation
Masonry is a composite material consists of units and mortar. The mechanical
properties of the masonry are a function of the unit and the mortar. So with the
available mechanical properties of the units and mortar, it is possible to
approximately predict the properties of the composite masonry. Samples were
procured from the temple and tested at the laboratory in order to estimate the
material properties. The ambient vibration test provides a very useful check on
the natural frequencies of the structure, as predicted by finite element method.
Investigation used to identify the modal parameters of the structures at ambient
condition is referred to as ambient vibration test. The ambient vibration test was
performed for two mandapams at Ekambaranathar temple. The modal
parameters estimated from the finite element analysis matched well with the test
results (Table 1).
Modeling approaches
The macro modeling approach was followed for modeling masonry.3D finite
element models have been used for gravity load as well as response spectrum
analyses and this was performed using commercially available package
ABAQUS 6.6.4.Only members meant to carry loads were modeled and the
decorative elements were ignored in modeling. It is difficult to deal with 3D
models, when the type of analysis to be performed is iterative or nonlinear and
the number of analyses to be executed is more. A stick model (Fig. 5) can be
used as an alternative to a 3D model and it is very effective for symmetric
structures. This approach is computationally effective. The nonlinear time-
history analysis was performed by stick model using SAP 2000.
Structural Assessment of Mandapam
Structures were analysed for gravity as well as seismic loading. The stress
calculated from the gravity load was later combined with seismic loading in
order to find out the resulting stress. The modal analysis was carried out prior to
response spectrum analysis and it was ensured that the number of modes
considered, contribute more than 90% of participation. The soil-structure
interaction was accounted for by means of dynamic spring constants. The site
specific uniform hazard spectra were used for the analyses. It was understood
from the literature (Giordano et al., 2007) as well as from the current study that
the collapse of these types of structures is mainly due to instability rather than
material failure. The main reason for this type of failure is due to poor
connections (weak mortar joint) between structural members. It is understood
from the literature (Giordano et al., 2007) that always overturning governs and
sliding is quite unlikely and the same inference is confirmed in the current study.
The main reason attributed to this is that the sliding resistance is a function of
coefficient of friction (very high 0.4 - 0.6) whereas overturning resistance
depends on the geometry of the structure. A simplified analysis based on static
stability analysis was carried out to check the stability of the structure.
Structural Assessment of Gopuram
As far as linear analysis of gopuram is concerned, an approach similar to that
adopted for the mandapam was followed. The critical region (most stressed
location) was identified from the linear dynamic analysis. The rigorous
nonlinear dynamic analysis (time-history analysis) was carried out using a stick
model, lumping nonlinearity at the critical section. The nonlinearity was
introduced by means of a nonlinear hinge. It is understood from the response
spectrum analyses that the location of maximum stress for seismic loading is
seventh floor level (Fig.4) and can be a potential location for nonlinearity to
evolve hence; the hinge is located at this level. The cross section at seventh floor
level was considered for the moment-curvature calculation (Fig.6). The moment-
curvature relationship was calculated by systematically changing the eccentricity
of the axial load, till the external compression fiber reaches its maximum strain
(0.003). The tensile strength of the masonry has been ignored. Hence, the cross-
sectional area under tension has been ignored thereby introducing nonlinearity.
Several time-history analyses were executed using natural accelerograms and
average response (demand) has been calculated.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The analysis shows that the mandapams have a very high safety margin against
gravity load. The stress contours for gravity and spectrum analysis are given in
Fig.9 & 10. The first two modes of vibration are associated with bending in the
principal directions and the third mode is torsional. It is to be noted that mass
associated with torsional mode is almost zero because of the symmetry of the
structure. A single axial mode contributes predominantly to the mass in the
vertical direction. The dynamic properties are given in Table 3. Mandapams
have been found to rather vulnerable to moderate levels of ground motions.
Mandapams happen to be stiffer with fundamental frequencies of vibration close
to the characteristic frequency of the underlying soil, with potential resonance
effects. Simple retrofitting intervention to overcome poor connections between
structural elements can provide significant capacity against overturning.
The gopuram is found to be having adequate safety factor under gravity load
(fig.3). The fundamental frequencies of gopurams are associated with bending in
principal directions and higher modal contribution is significant. The massive
structure of gopuram tends to have fundamental frequencies in the descending
branch of the response spectrum. However, moderate levels of ground motions
can initiate cracking at critical sections along the height of the tapering tower,
while crushing strains may be approached for higher intensities (Fig.7). The
cracking capacity is not exceeded for small intensities of ground motion (95year
RT), while it is exceeded for moderate intensities (475year RT). The crushing
limit is exceeded only for high intensities of ground motion (975 or 2475year
RT).
CONCLUSIONS
The current study represents a comprehensive investigation of the seismic
vulnerability of recurrent structural elements in South Indian temple
architecture, namely the gopuram and the mandapam. Therefore, the results
from the present study can give an indication about the vulnerability of other
temples. According to the present study, mandapams pose much danger
compared to gopurams with regard to earthquakes.
Reference
1. Ornthammarath, T., C.G Lai, A. Menon, M. Corigliano, G.R.
Dodagoudar and K.K. Gonavaram (2008) “Seismic Hazard at the
Historical Site of Kancheepuram in Southern India” The 14 th World
Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Beijing, China
2. Giordano A., A. De Luca, E. Mele and A. Romano (2007) “A simple
formula for predicting the horizontal capacity of masonry portal frames”
Engineering Structures, 29, 2109-2123.
3. IS-1893, Indian Standard Criteria for Earthquake Resistant Design
of Structures, Fifth Revision, Part-1, Bureau of Indian Standard, New
Delhi, 2002.
4. D’Ayala, D. and A. Kansal,(2005) An analysis of the seismic
vulnerability of the archhiectural heritage in Bhuj, Gujarat, India

Table 1. Fundamental frequency of vibration (from ambient vibration test)

Name of the Structure Frequency (Hz)
4 Pillared Mandapam 3.56
16 Pillared Mandapam 3.10
 Table 2 Peak ground accelerations from PSHA compared to IS code (1893:2002)
(Ornthammarath et al, 2008)
Return PSHA IS – 1893 (2002)
Probability of
Period
exceedance PHA (g) PVA (g) PHA (g) PVA (g)
(Year)
2% in 50 years 2475 0.21 0.14 0.16 0.11
5% in 50 years 975 0.17 0.08 - -
10% in 50 years 475 0.11 0.06 0.08 0.05
10% in 100 years 95 0.04 0.02 - -

Table 3 Dynamic Properties of the Mandapams (from finite element analysis)

Vibration

Frequency (Hz)
Mode No

Mode of

4-Pillared 16-Pillared
mandapam mandapam
1 B - YY 3.53 3.46
2 B - XX 3.54 3.47
3 T 5.10 4.02
4 A 23.92 20.54

Fig.1 Uniform hazard horizontal acceleration spectra (Ornthammarath et al, 2008)

 Fig.2- 9 tier gopuram Fig.3 Stress contour for gravity load

Fig.4 Stress contour for response spectrum analysis Fig. 5 Stick model
 1.60E+05

1.20E+05
Actual Curve
Idealised Curve
Moment(kNm)

Cracking Crushing
8.00E+04
Region Region

4.00E+04

0.00E+00
0.00E+00 2.00E-04 4.00E-04 6.00E-04
Curvature(1/m)

Fig. 6 Moment Vs Curvature relationship Fig. 7 Time-history responses

Fig.8 - 4- Pillared Mandapam Fig.9 Stress contour for gravity load

Fig.10 Stress contour for response spectrum analysis

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