KVPT’s Patan Darbar Earthquake Response Campaign - Work to Date - September 2016

lection of struts except for cleaning. This included several
carved struts from the 17th century and six uncarved
struts that had been installed to replace stolen struts in
1994.
Cleaning of Carved Wood Cornices: Carved cornices
are embedded in the brick wall and were able to be
cleaned in situ, with few repairs.
Removal of debris and pigeon nests
Several pigeon nests were discovered behind the struts
of the top tier, accompanied by large quantities of pigeon
droppings. The nests and droppings were removed,
along with a large amount of other debris causing excess
load in the top tier.
Brick walls: The exterior brick walls of the tower were
cleaned. Below the lower roof, walls with pointing in
poor condition were repointed with traditional mud
mortar, retaining the existing bricks, with minor repairs.
The existing void below the pinnacle was filled with
solid brick masonry to increase stability at the top of the
tower.
Seismic strengthening
Steel beams bracing south wall: Horizontal steel
beams below the Mul Cok south wing roof were introduced
to brace the south wall of the tower. Inside the
agam, steel cross bracing was installed at the level of the
door (just above the Mul Cok south wing roof) per the
attached sketch.
Strengthening connections of rafters to purlins: Halfinch
thick galvanized steel bolts were installed to strongly
connect rafters and purlins, a connection which traditionally
is created only with timber pegs. The addition
of the steel bolts will prevent the potential separation of
the joint during future seismic movement and improve
the overall rigidity of the structure.
Strengthening connections between rafters and wall
plates: In traditional structures the rafters are not
notched to the wall plates. 3/8” stainless steel pins were
placed to improve the structural stability of the roof
frame and wall plate connections. This measure will
firmly pin the rafter to the plate and thus prevent any
sliding movement of the rafters, especially during an
earthquake.
Reinforcement of corner lap joints
The corner lap joint of the wall plates is not sufficient to
bear the load of the corner strut. To prevent failure of the
structure a 2” wide x 3/16” thick steel plate was attached
at each corner joint, improving the strength of the joint
and allowing an even distribution of forces. (Similar details
are described and illustrated in the chapter above,
“Typical Seismic Issues in Newar Architecture.”
General Repairs: Other repairs to waterproof the pinnacle
and roofs contribute to future seismic strength by
making the wood structure and brick walls below more
durable.
It should be noted that the repairs described above, especially
the replacement of rotting structural wood, contributed
significantly to the agam’s ability to resist the
earthquake.
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