Resilience-oriented seismic retrofit of heritage masonry minarets using hybrid base isolation and supplemental damping

Historic masonry mosques represent a highly vulnerable class of cultural heritage structures whose seismic fragility stems from their complex geometries, heterogeneous material composition, and rigid load-transfer mechanisms. This study presents a resilience-oriented seismic performance improvement of the historic masonry minaret of the Bayburt Grand Mosque, a structure with limited lateral deformation capacity that challenges the applicability of conventional strengthening measures. To address this limitation, a hybrid retrofitting strategy is introduced, integrating lead rubber bearings (LRBs) with supplemental viscous dampers (VDs) at the foundation level. This combined system—implemented for the first time in a historic masonry minaret—aims to enhance energy dissipation and displacement control through a minimally invasive and architecturally compatible approach. Finite element analyses (FEA), coupled with MATLAB-supported optimization routines, were used to calibrate isolator stiffness and damper coefficients. Three configurations were evaluated: fixed-base, LRB-isolated, and hybrid LRB–VD systems. Nonlinear time-history analyses (NTHAs) using the 1992 Erzincan (Otlukbeli) earthquake record quantified displacements, stress–strain responses, and damage progression. Results show that while base isolation mitigates seismic demand, it remains insufficient under restricted deformation capacity. The proposed hybrid system reduces peak horizontal displacements from 22 cm to 12 cm, limits drift ratios below 0.17 %, and lowers maximum tensile stresses from 4.890 MPa to 0.490 MPa—well below the masonry tensile strength of 0.880 MPa. Two iterative analytical design methodologies are additionally introduced to derive effective isolator stiffness and viscous damping coefficients, enabling systematic integration into resilience-focused evaluation frameworks. Overall, the study advances reliability-based, conservation-compatible retrofitting practices for historic masonry minarets and supports sustainable strategies for seismic risk mitigation.