Seismic response of stone masonry spires: Analytical modeling

Matthew J. DeJong

Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK

a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 13 September 2011
Revised 8 February 2012
Accepted 1 March 2012
Available online 19 April 2012
Keywords:
Masonry
Spire
Rocking
Earthquakes
Analytical modeling
Collapse
Structural dynamics
a b s t r a c t
Stone masonry spires are vulnerable to seismic loading. Computational methods are often used to predict
the dynamic linear elastic response of masonry towers and spires, but this approach is only applicable
until the rst masonry joint begins to open, limiting the ability to predict collapse. In this paper, analyt-
ical modeling is used to investigate the uplift, rocking and collapse of stone spires. General equations for
static equilibrium of the spire under lateral acceleration are rst presented, and provide a reasonable
lower bound for predicting collapse. The dynamic response is then considered through elastic modal
analysis and rigid body rocking. Together, these methods are used to provide uplift curves and single
impulse overturning collapse curves for a complete range of possible spire geometries. Results are used
to evaluate the historic collapse of two specic stone spires.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Masonry structures have been proven vulnerable to earth-
quakes, but their assessment remains a challenge. Traditionally,
these structures were assessed with geometric methods, either
analytical or experimental, to conrm their stability. While that
approach has proven effective for static loading, dynamic response
during earthquakes requires further considerations. Modern engi-
neers have turned to computational modeling, often modal analy-
sis using nite element methods, to analyze the dynamic response.
In general, such an approach has sparked a debate about the utility
of nite elements, and specically linear elastic modal analysis,
when evaluating dynamic response of historic masonry structures
which are discontinuous by nature.
This paper focuses on the dynamic response of the stone ma-
sonry spire, a structural typology which is pertinent to this debate.
Because spires are tall and slender, elastic modal amplication may
be important. However, because stone masonry often has no
appreciable tensile strength (all stones within these structures
are free to separate when normal compressive forces are lost),
modal analysis may be limited as signicant modal amplication
may not be realized when contacts change. Regardless, an initial
static analysis is important because it provides a benchmark for
comparison of dynamic analysis results. The stability of masonry
spires under static dead load and wind load is addressed by Hey-
man [1] in the context of ultimate load theory, assuming (i) innite
compressive strength, (ii) zero tensile strength, and (iii) no sliding
between masonry units. These assumptions provide the foundation
for the geometric analysis methods mentioned previously, but
must be re-evaluated in the case of dynamic loading. Heyman [1]
also assumes that octagonal spires can be modeled as conical
shells, and eloquently explains the importance of the commonly
observed metal ties which anchor the (solid) spire tip to resist
overturning during high winds.
The dynamic response and collapse of masonry spires has been
given relatively little attention. Previous studies concentrate on the
onset of block separation (or cracking) due to elastic response,
making use of the nite element modal analysis methods men-
tioned above, but do not address the prediction of post-damage re-
sponse or collapse. In this study, the dynamic response is evaluated
using linear elastic beam theory, but is also addressed in the con-
text of rocking structures. While the literature on rocking is exten-
sive, the dynamics of spires has not been evaluated from this
perspective.
Housner [2] provides the fundamental formulation for investi-
gating the rocking response. Zhang and Makris [3] provide a critical
contribution regarding the response of rocking objects to cycloidal
pulses which can dominate earthquake ground motions and gov-
ern overturning collapse. More recently, Dimitrakopoulos and De-
Jong [4] provide analytical equations for fully non-dimensional
overturning envelope plots for cycloidal pulses, which are of gen-
eral use for any rocking structure with given parameters. Numer-
ous others have investigated different aspects of the single
rocking block, but these studies provide the fundamental basis
for the approach taken herein.
0141-0296/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2012.03.010

Tel.: +44 1223 330278; fax: +44 1223 332662.

E-mail address: mjd97@cam.ac.uk
Engineering Structures 40 (2012) 556565
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DeJong et al. [5] built upon the work of Zhang and Makris [3],
using the idea of dominant cycloidal pulses to predict the experi-
mental seismic response of discrete block arches. The single pulse
was indeed found to be dominant for several past earthquake time
histories, and single degree of freedom (SDOF) rocking theory was
effectively applied to a more complex multiple block structure. De-
Jong and Ochsendorf [6] further evaluated the use of SDOF rocking
theory to predict multiple block response, and evaluated the en-
ergy input and rocking amplication into rocking systems.
There are numerous instances of seismic damage to masonry
spires, both historically and recently. This paper aims to provide
a framework to understand this damage and the dynamics of spires
in general, and to predict seismic capacity. In the process, the aim
is to evaluate the limits and merits of two analysis approaches:
elastic modal analysis and rigid rocking response. A purely analyt-
ical investigation is presented herein, while the companion paper
[7] investigates the dynamic response of spires using computa-
tional (discrete element modeling) and experimental methods.
The analytical modeling approach is divided into three aspects.
First, static analysis is used to obtain a reference point for lateral
stability. Second, the linear elastic dynamic response is evaluated.
Third, the rigid rocking response is considered. Finally, all three
approaches are used to investigate the partial spire collapses of:
(1) Lions Walk Congregational Church in Colchester, United
Kingdom, and (2) Christchurch Cathedral in New Zealand. A
conical shell is assumed to be representative of the octagonal spire
(as in [1]), and the three assumptions of ultimate load theory are
taken [1].
2. Static analysis
As a starting point, static analysis is useful to determine the
minimum horizontal base acceleration (if applied for innite dura-
tion) necessary to cause overturning of a complete (un-cracked)
hollow spire, modeled as a conical shell. For the geometry in
Fig. 1a, the fraction (k
h
) of gravitational acceleration (g) required
for overturning of the hollow conical shell is:
k
h
=
3r
b
H
= 3tan/ (1)
The conical shell has a relatively low center of gravity (H/3), and
is therefore more resistant to overturning than a solid rectangular
prism. However, assuming masonry structures have no tensile
capacity, diagonal cracks may reduce stability when lateral loads
are applied [8]. In reality, the location of these cracks may be lim-
ited by interlocking of blocks and metal tie rods, but assuming that
a diagonal crack can form at any angle b and may initiate at any
height h
o
from the top of the spire (Fig. 1c), the fraction of gravita-
tional acceleration (g) required for overturning of the cracked hol-
low spire is:
k
ch
=
3r
b
H
1
p
2
g
3

2
p
2

2
3

g
2
2g 2
g
3
2g
2
2
!
(2)
where g = h
c
/h
o
is the normalized crack height (see Fig. 1c).
In reality, the tip of many spires is constructed with layers of so-
lid stone in addition to the metal tie rod, so the spire tip is effec-
tively solid. Thus, it is also useful to consider the case where the
crack initiates just beneath this solid tip (dotted line in Fig. 1c),
again at any angle b. In this case, the fraction of gravitational accel-
eration required for overturning of the cracked solid tip spire is:
k
cst
=
3r
b
H
1
3
(g 1)
3
g
t
r
b

1
2p
2
g
2

1
p
2

2
3

g 1

1
4
(g 1)
3
(3g 1) g
2 t
r
b
3
2
g 2
(3)
Throughout this paper, the range of typical spire geometries
used by Heyman [1] will be considered: r
b
/H = 0.070.14 and
r
b
/t = 1218, where t is the thickness at the base. For this range
of geometry, Fig. 2 presents the stability predicted by Eqs. (2)
and (3). The effect of the solid tip is evident. All plots in Fig. 2a
converge if k
c
is normalized by k
h
, providing the generic curves
in Fig. 2b.
Fig. 2 demonstrates that for completely hollow spires (no solid
tip), the stability decreases consistently with the crack height. Note
that for the limiting case of no crack (g = 0), k
ch
= k
h
. Also note that
theoretically the worst case crack would initiate from near the tip
and propagate down to the base. This may not be realistic, as block
interlocking would limit the crack angle. Regardless, even if the
crack height is half of the entire spire height, the stability is re-
duced by -30% compared to the uncracked spire.
The solid tipped spire behaves rather differently. The lateral
capacity is relatively constant whether the crack initiates from
50% to 80% of the total height. In this same region, the capacity
is signicantly lower than that of the hollow cracked spire. Thus,
while the solid tip improves stability under wind loading, it can
actually decrease stability under earthquake loading. This can only
be seen when considering the cracked spire, because the un-
cracked solid spire (g = 0) would increase stability by a third (see
Fig. 2b).
x
y
H
r
b
CM
H/3
O

h
mg
mg
R

(b) (c) (a)

O

c_
m
c
g
m
c
g
h
c

h
o
h
tip
Fig. 1. Denition of masonry spire geometry.
M.J. DeJong / Engineering Structures 40 (2012) 556565 557
3. Elastic modal analysis
The dynamic response of masonry structures involves two
stages: an initial elastic stage, during which the entire structure re-
mains in compression, followed by a rocking stage, during which
masonry units separate and regain contact. For masonry spires,
which are inherently slender, neither of these stages can be com-
pletely ignored. Low amplitude earthquakes could potentially
cause modal amplication which could lead to minor damage,
while large amplitude earthquakes could cause signicant rocking
which could lead to complete collapse. The elastic stage will be ad-
dressed rst, followed by the rocking stage in the next section.
3.1. Natural frequencies and mode shapes
Masonry spires are often situated above stocky (stiff) masonry
structures, so only the dynamics of the spire itself are initially con-
sidered. The elasticity of the sub-structure could be included if de-
sired. Due to the slender nature of spires, EulerBernoulli beam
theory will be used to estimate natural frequencies and mode
shapes. The mass per unit height, m(y), and bending stiffness,
EI(y), of the spire can be written as:
m(y) = 1
y
H

m
b
EI(y) = 1
y
H

3
EI
b
(4)
where m
b
is the mass per unit height at the base, I
b
is the second
moment of area at the base, E is the Youngs Modulus, and y is
the vertical coordinate with origin at the spire base (see Fig. 1a).
As written in Eq. (4), the mass and bending stiffness vary simi-
larly to the cantilevered solid wedge beam analyzed by Nagulesw-
aran [9], who derived the natural frequencies and mode shapes for
numerous non-uniform beams with varying boundary conditions.
Assuming that the spire can be modeled as a cantilevered beam,
its natural frequencies are found by solving the following [9]:
X
1
(1)
dX
2
(1)
dY

dX
1
(1)
dY
X
2
(1) = 0 (5)
where:
X
1
(Y) = Y
lY
3
43
2
2

l
2
Y
5
65
2
4
2
3
2
2

l
3
Y
7
87
2
6
2
5
2
4
2
3
2
2

X
2
(Y) = Y
lY
2
32
2
1

l
2
Y
4
54
2
3
2
2
2
1

l
3
Y
6
76
2
5
2
4
2
3
2
2
2
1

(6)
where Y = 1
y
H
, and:
l =
m
b
x
2
n
H
4
EI
b
(7)
The natural frequencies of the system can then be written as:
x
n
=

X
2
n
EI
b
m
b
H
4
s
(8)
where X
n
= 5.32, 15.2, and 30.0 for the rst three modes, and only
the rst four terms in Eq. (6) are considered. Naguleswaran [9] pro-
vides nearly an identical solution by including the rst six terms,
but such accuracy is unnecessary for the problem at hand.
The mode shapes can then be found by solving [9]:
x(Y) = X
1
(Y)
dX
1
(1)
dX
X
2
(Y)

dX
2
(1)
dY
(9)
The fundamental mode shapes for the rst two modes are de-
picted in Fig. 3. Alternatively, Lord Rayleighs principle can be used
to estimate the mode shape and compute the corresponding natu-
ral frequencies. Assume a mode shape of the form:
x(y) =
y
H

k
(10)
where x(y) is the horizontal modal translation at height y, and k is a
constant. According to Lord Rayleighs principle, the fundamental
natural frequency is approximated by:

x
1
=

R
H
0
EI(y)
d
2
x
dy
2

2
dy
R
H
0
m(y)(x(y))
2
dy
v
u
u
u
t
(11)
The best approximation of the mode shape considered in Eq.
(10) was obtained for k = 2.2, which minimizes the fundamental
frequency x
1
. The corresponding mode shape compares reason-
ably well with the actual mode shape derived by Naguleswaran
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0.5 0.7 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.5
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
0.07
0.10
0.14

c-

c-
/
h
(a) (b)
Fig. 2. Quasi-static lateral acceleration required for overturning of a cracked conical spire: (a) effect of slenderness (r
b
/H), (b) all curves converge when normalized by the
uncracked lateral capacity k
h
(solid line = solid spire tip, dashed line = hollow spire tip).
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
-0.5 0 0.5 1
Mode 1
Mode 2
Mode 1
(approximate)
y
H
( ) x y
Fig. 3. The rst two bending mode shapes of a conical shell (Eq. (9)), and the
approximate rst mode shape (Eq. (10), k = 2.2).
558 M.J. DeJong / Engineering Structures 40 (2012) 556565
[9] (Fig. 3). Modal analysis using Eqs. (10) and (11) can now be ap-
plied to determine the point at which elastic oscillation may begin
to cause damage to the structure.
3.2. Modal analysis
The modal properties derived Section 3.1 can be used to deter-
mine the point at which tensile forces within the structure would
be required to prevent loss of contact between blocks. For typical
solid rectangular cross-sections (as in Fig. 4b, right), the resultant
force must act within the middle-third of the cross-section to pre-
vent tensile stresses (assuming a linear stress distribution). This
middle-third rule is well-documented for masonry structures.
However, for a hollow circular cross-section, the resultant force
must act within the middle half of the cross-section to prevent ten-
sion, again assuming a linear stress distribution. In other words,
the resultant will act through the quarter point at the limit when
tension would begin to occur (see Fig. 4). Thus, the maximum spec-
tral acceleration which does not cause tension at a given height of
the spire, occurs when the overturning moment equals the resist-
ing moment about the quarter point.
Considering the rst mode response of an uncracked hollow
cone, the overturning moment at a height h above the base is:
M
over
= CS
a
Z
H
h
m(y)x(y)(y h)dy (12)
where C is the typical modal participation factor:
C =
R
H
0
m(y)x(y)dy
R
H
0
m(y)(x(y))
2
dy
(13)
Additionally, the resisting moment about the quarter point at
height h is:
M
res
=
r(h)
2
Z
H
h
m(y)dy (14)
where r(h) is the radius at height h. FromEqs. (12)(14), the spectral
acceleration required to cause tension at a given height h is:
d
d /4
Elevation View
b
b / 3
Resultant Force
Section A-A
A A
(b) (a)
Fig. 4. (a) Assumed linear stress distribution for the maximum moment where tension does not occur, and (b) the location of the corresponding resultant for two different
cross section shapes.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
0.07
0.10
0.14
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 1 2 3 4
0.07
0.10
0.14
S
a
[m/s
2
]
h

/

H

S
a
/ (g
h
)
(a) (b)
Fig. 5. (a) Spectral acceleration required to cause tension or loss of contact at a given height (h/H) of an uncracked hollow spire, and (b) normalization of (a).
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 2 4 6 0 2 4 6
h

/

H

hollow tip,
uncracked
S
a
[m/s
2
]
quasi-static
uplift
solid tip,
cracked
S
a
[m/s
2
]
modal uplift
(a) (b)
Fig. 6. (a) Comparison of the hypothetical modal uplift of an uncracked hollow spire and a diagonally cracked solid tip spire; (b) comparison of the hypothetical modal uplift
and the quasi-static uplift (Eq. (3) and Fig. 2b) predictions for a diagonally cracked solid tip spire.
M.J. DeJong / Engineering Structures 40 (2012) 556565 559
S
a
(h) =
M
res
C
R
H
h
m(y)x(y)(y h)dy
(15)
The spectral acceleration resulting from Eq. (15) is plotted in
Fig. 5 for the range of spire slenderness under consideration. The
effect of spire thickness is not shown because it is negligible. In
Fig. 5b, the results are normalized by k
h
(Eq. (1)), which effectively
eliminates the geometric differences. The vertical line at
S
a
/(gk
h
) = 0.5 represents the quasi-static horizontal acceleration
necessary to cause tension in the structure if no modal amplica-
tion is considered. Thus, Fig. 5b demonstrates, as expected, that
modal amplication can signicantly decrease the base accelera-
tions needed to cause tension in the structure, and tension will rst
occur between 80% and 90% of the total height.
The analysis above provides an important acceleration limit, be-
low which tension and therefore damage will not occur. Unfortu-
nately, this is as far as modal analysis can take us, and this may
be well below the acceleration which could cause collapse. For
example, even if it was incorrectly assumed that the modes did
not change despite loss of contacts within the structure (and that
diagonal cracking could not occur), then uplift would begin to oc-
cur at twice the acceleration values shown in Fig. 5b (see Fig. 6a).
Further, one could consider the limiting uplift for a cracked spire
with a solid tip. In this case, the assumption that the mode shapes
are unchanged until a diagonal crack occurs and the spire uplifts is
still not valid. However, the results provide another benchmark for
comparison. Assuming that the top 15% of the spire is solid and
that r
b
/H = 0.1, the spectral acceleration required to cause uplift
is compared to the result for the uncracked hollow spire in
Fig. 6a. The results indicate that the cracked solid tip slightly de-
creases the spectral acceleration required for uplift, but it signi-
cantly reduces the height at which overturning would occur.
Finally, it is useful to compare the hypothetical modal results
with the quasi-static uplift solution (Eq. (3) and Fig. 2b) for the
diagonally cracked solid tip spire. Fig. 6b demonstrates that modal
amplication, if it were possible until the instant of uplift, would
only slightly reduce the minimum acceleration required to cause
collapse, and collapse would occur at approximately 5070% of
the spire height. However, it must be noted that the quasi-static
solution considers the ground motion directly, while the modal re-
sponse considers the spectral acceleration, which will vary consid-
erably depending on the (elastic) properties of the structure.
It should be re-iterated that the results in this section consider
only the rst mode response of the structure. While the rst mode
will dominate the response in many cases, higher modes could be
included in a similar fashion if necessary.
4. Rigid rocking analysis
If the earthquake loading induces a large enough response, the
spire would uplift and begin to rock, and the elastic natural fre-
quencies would be completely altered. In this section, the ability
of rocking to cause collapse is investigated.
4.1. Analytical formulation
First, consider a rigid conical shell on a rigid foundation. The
conical shell will begin to rock (Fig. 7a) when the overturning
moment exceeds the resisting moment, which occurs at a base
(a)
(c)
(b)
H
h
tip
h
o
h
c
O
O

max
R
O

c.m.
O
< 0
0 <
0 <
Fig. 7. Denition of geometry for: (a) the rocking conical shell, (b) diagonal cracking below the spire tip, and (c) rocking of the cracked spire.
0
2
4
6
8
10
0 1 2 3 4
P
u
l
s
e

a
c
c
e
l
e
r
a
t
i
o
n
,

A
p
[
g
]
Pulse duration, T
p
[s]
No impact
collapse
One impact
collapse
No rocking
Rocking and
Recovery
Governing
Failure Curve
increasing cv
p
pT
t
a
n p
A
g

(a) (b)
Fig. 8. Response of rocking structures to a single sinusoidal base acceleration impulse.
560 M.J. DeJong / Engineering Structures 40 (2012) 556565
acceleration of a
crit
= k
h
g, where k
h
is dened in Eq. (1). Once rock-
ing commences, the response can be analyzed with a similar ap-
proach to that which Housner [2] used for the rigid rocking
rectangular block. Assuming that the cone rocks back and forth
on its base (the orientation of positive rocking, h > 0, is shown in
Fig. 7a), and that spinning of the cone about its vertical axis does
not occur, the equations of motion are:
I
0

h MgRsin(a h) = M u
b
Rcos(a h) h > 0
I
0

h MgRsin(a h) = M u
b
Rcos(a h) h < 0
(16)
where M is the total mass of the cone, R, a, and h are dened in
Fig. 7a, I
O
is the mass moment of inertia about the rotation point
of the cone, and u
b
is the horizontal base acceleration. For a com-
plete hollow cone (not diagonally cracked) which rocks about point
O in Fig. 7a:
I
O
=
5
4
Mr
2
b

1
6
MH
2
(17)
Assuming small angles, Eq. (16) can be rewritten in the form:

h p
2
h = p
2
u
b
g
a

h > 0

h p
2
h = p
2
u
b
g
a

h < 0
(18)
where p =

MgR=I
O
p
is the frequency parameter of the block. While
the rocking cone (or block) has no fundamental natural frequency
because the rocking frequency is dependent on the rocking ampli-
tude [2], the frequency parameter is of interest. It represents the
in-plane pendulum frequency of the cone if it was hung from its
rotation point (point O in Fig. 7a), and is of great importance to
the rocking response.
For the complete hollow cone, the frequency parameter is
described by:
p
2
=
g
H

1
9
j
2
q
5
4
j
2

1
6
(19)
where j = r
b
/H. A similar equation can be written for a solid cone:
p
2
=
g
H

1
16
j
2
q
23
20
j
2

1
10
(20)
Still following the formulation of Housner [2], the impact which
occurs each time the block returns to its initial position can be
modeled by a coefcient of restitution, c
v
, dened as the ratio of
the angular velocities before and after impact:
c
v
= 1
MR
2
I
O
(1 cos 2a) (21)
For the hollow cone, the coefcient of restitution is dened as:
c
v
= 1
1
9
j
2
5
4
j
2

1
6
(1 cos 2a) (22)
Again, a similar equation could be written for the solid cone. As
expected, the coefcient of restitution is a function of the slender-
ness only, not the scale of the spire.
Eqs. (18)(22) now describe the response of the conical shell to
horizontal base motion in general. However, because ground mo-
tion impulses often govern overturning collapse, this study will fo-
cus on the response of the spire to single period sinusoidal base
impulses. Investigating short duration rocking is also appropriate
because numerous consecutive rocking cycles would degrade the
0
2
4
6
8
10
hollow
solid
p
h
t
i
p
0
2
4
6
8
10
0 5 10 0 2 4
2 m tip
(hollow)
2 m tip
(solid)
4 m tip
(hollow)
4 m tip
(solid)
h
o
p
(a) (b)
Fig. 9. Frequency parameter for a rocking spire with H = 10m, r
b
/H = 0.1, and r
b
/t = 15 where the spire cracks: (a) horizontally at any height, (b) diagonally below the tip.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 2 4
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 0.2 0.4
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0.7 0.8 0.9 1
p
2
h
o
/ g
h
c

/

h
o

c
v
Fig. 10. Rocking parameters for a spire with r
b
/H = 0.1 and r
b
/t = 15 which cracks diagonally below a solid (solid line) or hollow (dashed line) tip.
M.J. DeJong / Engineering Structures 40 (2012) 556565 561
integrity of the spire, reducing the validity of the rocking conical
shell model. The collapse of a spire due to repeated acceleration
impulses may be important for earthquakes which do not have a
dominant acceleration impulse, but this would cause local sliding
and dislocation of blocks and is not feasible to analyze analytically.
Computational methods which could deal with this type of loading
are considered in the companion paper [7].
4.2. Impulse rocking response
The overturning of the rigid rocking block due to single period
cycloidal base acceleration impulses was dened by Zhang and
Makris [3], among others. The single period sinusoidal acceleration
impulse is more detrimental than a single period cosine impulse of
similar characteristics, so only the single sinusoidal impulse re-
sponse will be considered here. Dimitrakopoulos and DeJong [4]
dened the non-dimensional collapse envelopes for a variety of
different coefcients of restitution, and these envelopes will be uti-
lized in the plots throughout this paper.
Fig. 8a presents the collapse envelope for a single rocking block
in conceptual (dimensional) form. Four possible responses to a sin-
gle sinusoidal impulse of base acceleration are theoretically possi-
ble, and the regions are labeled accordingly in Fig. 8a. For large
amplitude impulses: the block immediately overturns without im-
pact for long duration impulses; the block rocks in one direction,
impacts and fails in the other direction for medium duration im-
pulses (one impact collapse), and the block rocks but does not
overturn for short duration impulses (rocking and recovery). For
small amplitude impulses, rocking does not occur.
Fig. 8b presents the collapse envelopes in non-dimensional form.
Specically, three dimensionless groups dene the response [4]:
A
p
g tana
; pT
p
; c
v
(23)
where A
p
and T
p
are the sinusoidal impulse amplitude and duration,
respectively. The only geometric parameters necessary to com-
pletely dene the response are p, a, and c
v
. In general, it is critical
to note the relationship between scale and the frequency parameter
p for rocking structures:
p
1

scale
_ (24)
In other words, as the scale decreases, p increases, and the
dimensional collapse envelope (Fig. 8a) would shift to the left,
making the block more vulnerable to impulse overturning. On
the contrary, as the scale increases, p decreases, and the block is
more stable. This conrms the well documented fact that small
blocks are less stable than large blocks of equal geometry (e.g. [2]).
4.3. Rocking of a conical shell
Consider rst a conical spire which is not permitted to crack
diagonally. Such a spire has the remarkable characteristic that, if
the spire is permitted to crack horizontally at any height, then a
single spire contains a wide range of conical shells of different scale
but exactly the same geometric proportions (if the thickness is ig-
nored). For example, consider a 10 m tall spire with r
b
/H = 0.1 and
r
b
/t = 15. Regardless of the height of the rocking portion above the
horizontal crack, a and c
v
would be unchanged, but the frequency
parameter (Eq. (19)) would vary as shown in Fig. 9a. Recall that dy-
namic stability decreases as p increases. Thus, while a given im-
pulse may not be long enough to overturn the entire spire, it
may certainly overturn the top portion. The frequency parameter
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 2 4
0.07
0.10
0.14
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 2 4
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 2 4
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0.6 0.8 1
p
2
h
o
/ g
h
c

/

h
o

/ (1- c
v
) / ( sin )
p
2
h
o
/ g
h
c

/

h
o

c
v
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 5 10
Fig. 11. Rocking parameters for spires of varying r
b
/H which crack diagonally below a solid tip.
562 M.J. DeJong / Engineering Structures 40 (2012) 556565
for a solid cone is also plotted in Fig. 9a, as the spire tip may be so-
lid and may overturn alone. It is important to note that a square
masonry tower is different. If it cracked horizontally above the
base, then the aspect ratio would increase making the structure
more stable, even though the frequency parameter would increase,
causing the dynamic stability to reduce.
4.4. Rocking of a cracked conical shell
For masonrystructures, diagonal cracking must be allowedto oc-
cur below the tied tip, which may be solid or hollow (see Fig. 7b).
The diagonal crack is assumed to initiate at the base of the tied
tip, but may propagate downward at any angle less than b
max
. (In
reality, this angle would be limited by block interlock as mention
previously). In this case, Eqs. (18) and (21) can still be used to pre-
dict the dynamic response, assuming that rocking in each direction
is dened by symmetric mechanisms (see Fig. 7c). Perfect mecha-
nism reection is extremely unlikely, but effectively captures the
general response (further considered in the companion paper [7]).
Similarly, the use of a coefcient of restitution to estimate the en-
ergy dissipated is only a rough approximation of a very complicated
transition of mechanisms. The actual transition would likely dissi-
pate more energy than assumed by this impact formulation.
For the diagonally cracked spire, all parameters (p, a, c
v
) vary
depending on the height of the rocking portion h
o
; the equations
for these parameters become cumbersome so they are omitted.
Consider the frequency parameter rst. In Fig. 9b, the height of
the rocking portion of the spire is plotted with respect to the fre-
quency parameter. The spire geometry from Section 4.3 is as-
sumed, and in addition a metal rod is assumed to tie the top 2 or
4 m of the spire. The tie rod effectively limits the frequency
parameter, and therefore prevents overturning of the tip during
earthquakes, not just high winds, as expected. Fig. 9b also demon-
strates that p is maximum when the diagonal crack extends only a
short distance below the base of the tied tip.
The effect of the crack height h
c
on a and c
v
must also be consid-
ered. In Fig. 10, the normalized crack height is plotted with respect
to all three parameters for r
b
/H = 0.1. Note that the frequency
parameter is presented in non-dimensional from so a single curve
represents all combinations of tip and crack heights, and that the
previous results for the horizontally cracked cone are given by
h
c
/h
o
= 0. Fig. 10 demonstrates the counteracting effects caused
by a crack initiating lower down the spire. While an increase in p
shifts the collapse envelope (Fig. 8a) to the left, decreasing stabil-
ity, an increase in a shifts the collapse envelope up, increasing
stability. Thus, while the frequency parameter indicates minimum
stability when the crack height is 2030% of the entire rocking por-
tion, both a and c
v
indicate minimum stability when rocking occurs
about the base of the entire spire (maximum h
c
/h
o
).
These counteracting effects must be considered to determine
the minimum capacity, but rst it is useful to consider alternate
spire geometries. Fig. 11 (top row) presents the same rocking
parameters for a range of r
b
/H. The slenderness of the entire spire
has a considerable effect on the values of a and c
v
of the rocking
portion, as expected, but has a remarkably small effect on the fre-
quency parameter. In addition, varying the thickness of the spire
has a minimal effect on these curves (not shown). Thus, a and c
v
were normalized to develop single curves which dene the rocking
parameters for a spire of any geometry. The result is shown in
Fig. 11 (bottom row). Note that c
v
is not easily normalized for
any spire geometry, but can be directly calculated from the other
dimensionless parameters, using an alternate form of Eq. (21):
c
v
= 1 2
MR
I
O
r
b
sina = 1 2
p
2
h
o
g
r
b
h
sina (25)
Now that the rocking parameters have been determined for any
spire, the counteracting effects of a larger or smaller crack height
must be reconciled. By plotting collapse envelopes similar to
Fig. 8a for a range of crack heights h
c
, a governing collapse envelope
for the entire spire can be generated. Consider again the 10 m spire
with r
b
/H = 0.1 and with a solid tip of 2 m. The possible cracking of
the spire is depicted in Fig. 12, along with the corresponding
dimensional collapse envelopes. Note that only the bottom portion
of the governing single impact collapse curves are plotted for
clarity.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8

h
c
/ h
o
10 m
2 m
P
u
l
s
e

A
c
c
e
l
e
r
a
t
i
o
n
,

A
p
[
g
]
Pulse Duration, T
p
[s]
cs,min
Fig. 12. Geometry and collapse envelopes for a spire (H = 10 m, h
tip
= 2 m, r
b
/H = 0.1) with a varying diagonal crack height (h
c
/h
o
) below a solid tip.
Table 1
Case study geometries.
Tower Spire
Height (m) Width (m) Wall thickness (m) Height (m) r
b
/H
Lions Walk 18 4.2 0.6 17 0.09
Christchurch 27 8.2 1.25 27 0.14
M.J. DeJong / Engineering Structures 40 (2012) 556565 563
For a horizontal crack just below the solid spire tip (h
c
/h
o
= 0),
the collapse envelope signicantly overestimates the capacity of
the diagonal cracked spire. The new collapse envelope for the spire
should instead be dened as the minimum envelope of all the
curves in Fig. 12b. Note that h
c
/h
o
= 0.2 provides the maximum
shift of the curve to the left (due to maximum p), h
c
/h
o
= 0.8 pro-
vides a maximum shift downward (due to minimum alpha), and
h
c
/h
o
= 0.4 provides the best single curve minimum of all the com-
bined collapse envelopes.
5. Case studies
The formulations above will now be used to evaluate the ob-
served damage to two different spires. In both cases, the spire tip
collapsed, and the spires were reconstructed. However, the differ-
ence in epicentral distance likely led to a different response in each
case.
5.1. Lions Walk Congregational Church, United Kingdom
Lions Walk Congregational Church was completed in 1863. In
1884, an earthquake caused the top 20 ft of the spire to collapse
[10]. The epicentral distance to the church was less than 5 km,
and the earthquake was relatively short. The earthquake damage
was recorded by Dr. Alexander Wallace, who clearly describes
what is effectively the governing single impact mode of rocking
collapse [11]:
next they observed the fall of chimneys and the fall of the spire of
the Congregational Chapel. It was clearly noticed that the fall of
chimneys to the south-west proceeded the fall of the spire; in fact
they fall one after another; those furthest to the south-west fell
rst. Moreover the debris of the spire and of the chimneys nearly
all over Colchester has tumbled on the north east sides of the build-
ings, pointing to the conclusion that something like a wave of
upheaval was felt approaching from the south-west, and causing
a fall in the opposite direction.
The approximate geometry of the tower and spire are given in
Table 1. According to reconstruction drawings, the top 78 ft of
spire was tied together with a metal rod. The static modeling in
Section 2 (Eq. (3)) predicts that overturning could occur at constant
lateral accelerations as low as 0.16 g. However, it is reiterated that
this may be limited by stone interlock and the duration of the
acceleration, for which the dynamics must be considered.
Assuming that the tower beneath the spire is relatively stiff due
to its thicker walls and buttressing, and that the majority of the
elastic oscillation occurs in the spire, Fig. 5a indicates that tension
would begin to occur at spectral accelerations as low as 0.08 g, at
approximately 10 ft (3 m) from the top. Note that the spectral
acceleration could be considerably higher than the base accelera-
tion. Again note that higher acceleration would be necessary to
initiate rocking. Assuming conservatively that the mode shape
does not change after damage, then uplift would occur at
S
a
~ 0.16 g, which matches well with the static solution despite a
completely different mechanism.
Finally, the rocking analysis in Section 4.4 yields the governing
envelope of collapse curves shown in Fig. 13. The results indicate
that an acceleration pulse with a magnitude of 0.3 g and a period
of 0.5 s could have overturned the spire. This acceleration pulse
would need to occur at the height of overturning, not at the base,
and therefore could result fromelastic amplicationin the structure
below. While earthquake records are not available, such a pulse is
feasible given the small epicentral distance. Thus, the results con-
rmobservational evidence that a single dominant pulse could have
caused overturning. Furthermore, the required pulse for overturn-
ing could have been smaller if local damage and displacements
occur (see [7]), and if vertical ground motion were considered.
5.2. Christchurch Cathedral, New Zealand
Images of the severe damage to Christchurch Cathedral were
prolic after the recent earthquake on February 22, 2011, which
caused the complete collapse of the spire. However, this was not
the rst seismic event which damaged the spire. The top 7.8 m of
the stone spire collapsed in the Amuri earthquake of September
1, 1888 [12] (Fig. 14a). The spire was rebuilt, and again lost its
tip in the Cheviot earthquake of November 16, 1901 [12]
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8

P
u
l
s
e

A
c
c
e
l
e
r
a
t
i
o
n
,

A
p
[
g
]
Pulse Duration, T
p
[s]
h
c
/ h
o
Fig. 13. Collapse envelopes for Lions Walk Congregational Church for varying
diagonal crack heights (h
c
/h
o
) below the tied tip.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
0 1 2 3 4
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8

P
u
l
s
e

A
c
c
e
l
e
r
a
t
i
o
n
,

A
p
[
g
]
Pulse Duration, T
p
[s]
h
c
/ h
o
(a) (b)
Fig. 14. Christchurch Cathedral: (a) 1888 earthquake damage (photo acknowledgement: Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington N.Z., Ref. No. PAColl-7985-72), (b) collapse
envelopes for varying diagonal crack heights (hc/ho) below the tied tip.
564 M.J. DeJong / Engineering Structures 40 (2012) 556565
(Fig. 14a). Following the Cheviot earthquake, the top portion of the
spire was rebuilt using Australian hardwood sheathed in copper,
with a counterweight hanging inside. Thus, the spire which
collapsed in 2011 was not actually completely stone, but a combi-
nation of stone and timber.
The cathedral was originally constructed between 1864 and
1881, when the spire was completed [12]. The original designers
were concerned about earthquake loading, revising the design
multiple times with earthquakes in mind [13]. In the end, the spire
was constructed of stone, with the top 27 ft tied together with me-
tal rods [12]. An openwork iron cross stood atop the spire and was
also anchored by the rods. The approximate geometry of the spire
and tower is summarized in Table 1. The damage to the spire dur-
ing the 1888 Amuri earthquake is considered here (Fig. 14a). The
epicenter of the earthquake was approximately 100 km northwest
of Christchurch, where the shaking lasted 4050 s [14].
The static modeling predicts that overturning could occur at
constant lateral accelerations as low as 0.26 g. The elastic modal
analysis Section 3.2 (Fig. 5a) indicates that tension would begin
to occur at spectral accelerations as low as 0.11 g, at approximately
13 ft (4 m) from the top. However, this maximum occurs in the
pre-tensioned (tied) portion of the spire, so loss of contact would
rst occur at the base of the tied portion, at S
a
~ 0.13 g. Again
(incorrectly) assuming that the mode shape does not change after
damage, then uplift would occur at S
a
~ 0.25 g.
The rocking analysis in Section 4.4 yields the governing enve-
lope of collapse curves shown in Fig. 14b. Fig. 14a does indicate
diagonal cracking of approximately h
c
/h
o
~ 0.25, which is close to
the h
c
value which corresponds to the maximum p value. However,
a considerable acceleration pulse with a period above 1.5 s would
be required to overturn the spire. It is unlikely that a single accel-
eration pulse of this magnitude occurred at -100 km from the epi-
center. Thus, if the metal tie was not comprised, it would have
effectively prevented overturning due to direct rocking. Instead,
due to the longer epicentral distance and earthquake duration, it
is possible that modal amplication led to continued rocking just
beneath the tied portion, which may have caused local displace-
ment and damage and led to collapse. Local displacements and
damage due to continued rocking can better be considered through
computational methods, as considered in the companion paper [7].
6. Conclusions
Predicting collapse of masonry spires requires investigation of
both elastic oscillation and rocking. Considering pure elastic re-
sponse and pure rigid body rocking provide important bench-
marks, and consideration of the uncoupled interaction between
these provides further insight to actual dynamic behavior and
damage. In particular:
v Static analysis provides an effective lower bound of the acceler-
ations which could cause collapse, and an important benchmark
for dynamic analyses.
v Modal analysis was used to identify the spectral acceleration at
which normal contact is lost during elastic oscillation, and the
critical height at which this occurs. Assuming a linear stress dis-
tribution, this occurs when the resultant exits the middle-half
of the cross section. This is well below the acceleration at which
full uplift of a portion of the cone would occur.
v If a spire cracks diagonally during an earthquake, a portion of
the spire may begin to uplift. The slenderness and scale of the
cracked portion may vary considerably, and have counteracting
effects for overturning. Thus, numerous rocking envelopes are
required to predict the possible overturning of a spire due to a
primary pulse which may dominate an earthquake ground
motion.
v The case studies indicate that a single impulse could feasibly
have caused direct overturning of the spire of Lions Walk Con-
gregational Church, but the metal ties in Christchurch Cathe-
dral, if effective, likely would have prevented direct
overturning from rocking without signicant local damage.
The analytical rocking model herein is limited when long dura-
tions of shaking cause local damage and dislocations to individual
stones. Computational methods may provide insight into rocking
amplitudes which will cause local displacements that compromise
the structure. However, while these methods may be useful for
specic case studies where site-specic material properties, stere-
otomy, and geometry are known, the analytical formulation herein
provides a generalized framework to understand and predict the
seismic response of stone spires.
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