Testing research on seismic behavior for an ancient masonry tower

Masonry taken from an ancient tower with more than 1300 years age is tested, its cube compression strength is from 0.93 to 2.5 MPa, which is lower than its strength of present masonry. The former frequencies and the first mode are attained by testing the tower in the field, the dynamic characteristic and the dynamic response of the masonry tower are also analysed by the finite element program. The testing value of the former frequencies and the first mode are compared with the calculation value, it shows that they meet well. The dynamic response result shows that the drift degree of the small tower is about 1/176 and exceed the requirement of the code for seismic design of buildings. As to the stress of the tower, there is apparent stress raiser in the joint between the main tower and small tower, it also shows that there is deficient in the shear resistance and tension resistance for the whole tower.