Stability of Al-Hadba minaret a-parametric study

Abstract

Al-Hadba minaret in MOSUL City is one of the famous and oldest Islamicmonuments in the city. This minaret suffers from cracks in different places andpartial collapse in the outer stairs and in the upper dome. In addition to that, theminaret is suffering from leaning. In this research the stability analysis,displacement, and stress distribution were investigated using ANSYS 11 programto represent the effect of external loads, and loads from maintenance work. In theanalysis the minaret and its foundation were considered as a one unit. Furthermore, the effect of changing the nature of surrounding soil was investigated.Results showed that the underground soil around the foundation is fill andvery loose material containing high percent of organic material and cavities. Thisformation is extend down to (4.3-9.8 m) below the ground surface and have nopronounce effect on the stability of the minaret .The analysis showed that the maximum compressive stress at the base of minaret in the inclination direction ofthe minaret, where the opposite direction is under tension and the highest valuewas at the base of cylindrical part.