Seismic assessment of two multi-tiered pagodas damaged by the 2015 Nepal earthquake

A seismic assessment of two multi-tier pagodas by numerical analysis is presented herein. The Changu Narayan temple and the Kumbeshwar temple in Nepal are used as the case studies. Both pagodas are built of brick masonry in earthen mortar, with timber columns and crossbeams. The Changu Narayan temple is a two-tier pagoda, and was seriously damaged during the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. The Kumbeshwar temple is a five-tier pagoda, and its top-tier collapsed due to the Gorkha earthquake. A seismic assessment was carried out using finite element (FE) analysis. The FE models were prepared, and dynamic identification tests and penetrometer tests were conducted. Pushover analysis and nonlinear dynamic analysis were performed as part of the seismic assessment. The main shock of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake was considered as the input accelerograms. The behavior between the two pagodas was compared with the collapse mechanisms and damage patterns observed in the actual structures. The comparison suggested common structural features of multi-tier pagodas. This study is dedicated to providing a better understanding of the seismic behavior of multi-tier pagoda-type structures and provides suggestions for their effective analysis.