By Erdem Canbay
October 27, 2011. Middle East Technical University.
İlk gozlemlerim soyle.
My first impressions.
Van’da sadece 6 bina toptan gocmus. Sayi cok az ve bundan dolayi cok ilginc. 6 binanin kalintilari kaldirildiktan sonar kalanlar (bodrum ve zemin kat) incelenmeli. Hepsinde de tuyler urpenten ipucalari bulunabilir diye dusunuyorum. Soylentiler cok; bircok kolonun alan kazanmak icin kesildigi yonunde.
Only six buildings in Van collapsed. The serious damage is limited and that makes it very interesting. After the debris is removed we need to study the basement and the first story. I suspect there will be some impressive findings. Lots of gossip indicating columns were removed to enable space increase.
Su anda Van bosalmis durumda, herkes sehri terk etmis; yapilarin cogu kilitli ve icine girilemiyor. Ancak girebildiklerimizin HIC BIRINDE yapisal hasara rastlamadim. Hepsi rijitlik yetersizliginden asiri deplasman yapmis ve yapisal olmayan elemanlar hasar gormus. Yine de yapısal elemanlarda hic catlak yakalayamadim.
At the moment Van is in a state of abandonment. The population has left the city. Many of the buildings are locked. We cannot gain entrance. IN NONE OF THE BUILDINGS I entered was I able to see structural damage. All cases I saw represented nonstructural damage related to drift. In the same buildings, I was not able to see cracks in the structural elements.
Genelde yapi dis yüzeyleri cift kat tugla orulmus. Aralarinda izolasyon malzemesi var. Dis tuglalar hep dusmus.
In general facades include two layers of bricks. Insulation has been placed in between the layers. The outer layers have lost bricks in (almost) allcases (Figure 1).
Insaat halindeki binalara baktigimizda artik kolon boyutlarinin buyuk ve perde duvarlarin oldugu gozlemleniyor. Bence buyuk sehirlerdeki insaat yaklasimindan bir farki yok. Bu binalar da artik buyuk sehirlerdeki seviyede kalitesiz.
In buildings still in construction, it is seen that column sizes are large and there are walls. In my opinion, construction here is no different from that in larger cities (in Turkey.) They lack quality just like those in the larger cities.
Ekte iki foto gonderiyorum. İlkinde zemin kat kolonlarinda dahi catlak goremedik; ikincisi baska bir bina bulabildigimiz tek kolon hasari. Obur kolonlari hasarsiz. Bu kolon buyuk yapilmis, kuvveti uzerine almis, ancak detaylandirma hatasi var, ciroz (cross-tie) yok ve etriye siklastirmasi yok. Duz donati, yaklasik 16 mm capinda, bindirme boyu yaklasik 1 metre, etriye araligi 30+cm.
Figure 1
In the street level columns of the first one we could not see any cracks (Figure 1). The second represents the only damaged column we were able to find (Figure 2). The other columns in the building have no damage. The column shown is larger and must have attracted the shear. It has detailing problems: No cross-ties and ties spaced wide. Plain reinforcement. Approx. 16 mm. Splice length ~1.0 m. Ties at 30 cm.
Figure 2
-Erdem
(Free translation of notes from Dr. Canbay of Middle East Tech U)
