Reduction of seismic risk of roman and hindu temples

In the last decades, the devastating effects of seismic events in India have been raising the awareness about the high exposure of the population, especially in crowded urban areas. The daily gathering of believers in temples has been indeed identified as one of the most risky conditions, especially because of the high vulnerability of these historical temple structures. This paper presents the first outcomes of a joint project between EUCENTRE (Pavia, Italy) and IIT Madras (Chennai, India), aiming to reduce the seismic risk of selected architectural heritage structures both in Italy and India, by means of post-tensioning. Two sites were selected and recognized as cultural heritage both for their architectural features and their historical value, as representative of the respective structural typologies. The results of this study can be hence directly applicable to many other similar structures. The paper describes the characteristics of the two temples, in terms of geometry and material, identified based on literature data and results of in-situ investigations on both structural and soil properties. The results of a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis, which was combined with fully stochastic site response analyses at the Indian site, in order to define the expected seismic input, are also presented. The results of this preliminary study are necessary for the design of representative prototype specimens that will be tested on shaking table within this joint project. The numerical model of the temples will be validated against experimental results and will allow future studies on similar structures and improved retrofitting techniques.