Ancient pagodas are prone to damage or even collapse under seismic loading due to material aging and structural characteristics. To enhance the seismic performance of ancient pagodas, a seismic-strengthening design method for retrofitting ancient pagodas with embedded glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars is proposed. The limit values of the story drift angle of ancient pagodas are statistically analyzed to determine the story drift angles at the elastic and elastic-plastic limit points. The corresponding solutions are proposed in view of the primary problems in the seismic reinforcement design of the ancient pagoda, such as the calculation of seismic shear force, the distribution of seismic shear force, and the calculation of shear bearing capacity. The seismic fortification target for the ancient pagoda is proposed with consideration of the special requirements of cultural heritage protection. The two-stage design method is further proposed to achieve the seismic fortification target. Taking the 1/8-scale model of the Xiaoyan Pagoda with cracks as an example, the design method proposed in the paper is used to carry out the reinforcement design with embedded GFRP bars. The proposed design method can provide a theoretical basis and technical reference for the seismic reinforcement of the ancient pagoda.

Masonry walls, which serve as a distinct structural element in numerous historical buildings, have frequently been damaged or even collapsed because of unexpected events such as earthquakes. The paper analyzes the seismic damage evaluation and failure mechanisms of historical masonry tower walls located in Xi’an, China. For this purpose, three-dimensional finite element models of historical masonry tower walls were established based on numerical method and analyzed through the explicit dynamic procedures. The numerical model is firstly verified by the testing results from the scaled historical tower wall specimen. The comparison results show a high accuracy in load-displacements relationship and the error does not exceed 3%. Then, the damage indexes (DI) based on the different damage models are calculated and the performance levels of historical Chinese tower walls are proposed accordingly. The effects of vertical compressive stresses, height width ratios and opening ratios on the seismic damage evaluation of the historical tower masonry walls are also analyzed. Finally, the shear bearing capacity of masonry tower walls based on calculation formulas are calculated and the stiffness of the wall under different aspect ratios are further analyzed.