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Article A Factory in a Time of Turmoil: The Establishment and Engineering of the Büyükdere Match Factory in 1930s Istanbul(MDPI, 2025) Tunc, Gokhan; Tunc, Tanfer EminThe Republic of Turkey established its first match factory in Sinop in 1929 but had to relocate it even before it was in operation due to severe structural damage caused by ground settlement. In July 1930, through his US-based firm the American-Turkish Investment Corporation (ATIC), the Swedish "Match King" Ivar Kreuger signed a contract with the Republic of Turkey to build and operate a factory in B & uuml;y & uuml;kdere, Istanbul. By 1930, Kreuger had already established a match production monopoly in nearly every country in Europe and that year created a similar financial system for Turkey, gaining control of match production for 25 years. This article explains the events surrounding the establishment of his modern production facility in Turkey, with a particular focus on its engineering aspects. It details the strategically chosen location, the engineering solutions for the factory's construction, its production lines, and what the country gained and lost from it. In order to determine the establishment and production processes of the facility, the authors examined domestic and foreign archival documents, firsthand news reports from the period, articles and theses, and all other available documents. After the contract was terminated by both parties, the Turkish government and ATIC, in May 1943, the factory continued its production and storage activities until May 1989. At that point, the factory and all its equipment were integrated into another existing facility in the & Idot;neg & ouml;l district of Bursa province. Almost all the buildings of the B & uuml;y & uuml;kdere Match Factory were demolished, and the land was repurposed for a 450-bed regional hospital in 2012. In short, this article deploys the B & uuml;y & uuml;kdere Match Factory as a case study to examine what Turkey gained and lost from the establishment and production processes of a modern industrial factory, enabled by US-Turkish collaboration, and equipped with the most advanced manufacturing and engineering technologies of the time.Article Citation - WoS: 6A Light Bulb in Every House the Istanbul General Electric Factory and American Technology Transfer To Turkey(Johns Hopkins Univ Press, 2022) Tunc, Tanfer Emin; Tunc, GokhanIn 1946, Turkish entrepreneur Vehbi Koc signed an agreement with the U.S. firm General Electric to build and operate its first light bulb factory in the Near/Middle East, in Istanbul. This private joint venture introduced new manufacturing techniques, business practices, and consumer habits to Turkey, opening channels of postwar technological exchange. Closer examination of the GE-Koc partnership reveals that during the early Cold War, the transfer and embedding of American technologies in Turkey was a politically complicated process of innovation that required constant adaptation. Fraught with unforeseeable obstacles, it also required cautious negotiation with multiple transnational actors. The story of the GE-Koc partnership thus adds a new dimension to historical understandings of the Turkish Cold War experience and the Americanization of the region. It illustrates how transferring a nonmilitary, soft-power, domestic technologythe light bulb-played a significant role in Turkish-American relations and therefore contributes to studies of U.S. Cold War diplomacy through transnational investment in innovation.Article Citation - WoS: 3Citation - Scopus: 6Experimental Analysis of the Behavior of Composite Column-Reinforced Concrete Beam Joints(Springer Heidelberg, 2021) Tunc, Gokhan; Dakhil, Abdulrrahman; Mertol, Halit CenanThis study assesses the seismic performance of steel-reinforced concrete (SRC) composite columns connected to reinforced concrete (RC) beam joints, and their ability to dissipate seismic energy through inelastic deformations. In this article, experimental aspects regarding the seismic performance of high-ductility and low-ductility steel-concrete composite frame were investigated. The principle design parameter in this study was ductility, which is considered a conceptual framework in Efficiency-Based Seismic Engineering. Thus, attention was focused on assuring various ductility ranges of joints obtained through a detailed study of the Turkish Earthquake Code (TEC 18) [Ministry of Public Works and Housing.: Turkiye Bina Deprem Yonetmeligi (Turkey's Earthquake Code for Buildings). Official Gazette (2018) (in Turkish).]. After identifying deficiencies and the energy dissipation capacity in the newly proposed joints, two half-scaled frames with specific ductility-related designs were constructed, instrumented, tested, and analyzed. The specimens were tested under displacement-controlled lateral cyclic loading that incorporated constant axial loading to create cyclic tension and compression facets across the joint areas. The test results proved that the SRC column-RC beam frames employing an extra column reinforcement ratio exhibit slightly better seismic performance. Due to the presence of structural steel, the shear failure of the joint was effectively prevented, even after the formation of the plastic hinge on the interface of the beam. During the testing, the column rebars, to some extent, made a minor contribution to the joint strength of the specimen compared to the structural steel that absorbed almost all of the load applied to the frame.Article Citation - WoS: 6Citation - Scopus: 7Finite Element Analysis of Frames With Reinforced Concrete Encased Steel Composite Columns(Mdpi, 2022) Tunc, Gokhan; Othman, Mohammed Moatasem; Mertol, Halit CenanStructural frame systems that consists of concrete-encased-steel-embedded composite columns and reinforced concrete beams are typically used in mid-rise to tall buildings. In order to understand their overall structural behavior, a total of 12 frame models with high and low ductility features were constructed and analyzed using LS-DYNA software. Two of these models were validated using the results of previously tested frames. The remaining 10 models were studied to predict the behavior of frames with varying concrete strengths, reinforcement configurations, and structural steel sections under vertical and lateral loads. The results were investigated in terms of cracks and failure patterns, load-deflection relationships, energy dissipation, and stiffness degradation. The analytical results indicated that the high ductile frame models showed slightly better lateral load carrying performances compared to low ductility frame models. Moreover, the analytical studies demonstrated that the existence of structural steel in a column, regardless of its cross-sectional shape, was the most important parameter in improving the lateral load carrying capacity of a frame.Article Citation - WoS: 2Citation - Scopus: 1A Close Examination of Ankara's Reinforced Concrete Buildings Designed and Constructed Between 1923 and 1938(Mdpi, 2023) Tunc, Gokhan; Tunc, Tanfer EminThe Republic of Turkey was established in 1923 out of the remains of the Ottoman Empire. Between 1923 and 1938, the Turkish republic underwent fifteen years of rapid expansion and growth, with Ankara as its new capital and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938) as its first president. During this period, reinforced concrete (RC) played a significant role in the construction of Ankara's public-use buildings. This study focuses on 57 of these structures, built either partially, or entirely, out of RC. The buildings are classified with respect to their duration, soil properties, foundation types, structural design details, construction types, materials and overall costs. In order to provide a better picture of the time period in which these buildings were designed and constructed, the technical, financial and political aspects of the projects, and the difficulties and challenges involved in their design and construction, are also discussed. Furthermore, this study outlines the impact of foreign engineers, construction workers, firms and the educational system on the development of civil engineering and use of RC in Turkey.Article Citation - WoS: 5Citation - Scopus: 4Engineering the Public-Use Reinforced Concrete Buildings of Ankara During the Early Republic of Turkey, 1923-1938(Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd, 2022) Tunc, Gokhan; Tunc, Tanfer EminToday, reinforced concrete (RC) is the most commonly used construction material in Turkey. It first emerged in Europe in the 1850s and was adopted in a number of Late Ottoman period structures, mostly in Istanbul, during the first two decades of the twentieth century. During the Early Turkish Republic (1923-1938), RC appeared in public-use buildings in Ankara, such as the Ethnographic Museum, which was the first in the new capital to feature RC elements, leading the way for many more structures to come. Despite the fact that Turkish and foreign civil engineers faced a series of economic, social, cultural, political, educational and technical challenges during the transition from masonry and timber construction to RC, its adoption was facilitated by the fact that as a European building technology, it became symbolically important to the new republic. Equated with modernity, RC would allow its capital, Ankara, to construct an identity that would contrast with Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. This transition would also be catalyzed by the rise of a professional class of Turkish civil engineers who deployed RC to reinforce their authority as trained specialists and agents of modernization.Article Citation - WoS: 53Citation - Scopus: 58Investigation of Rc Buildings After 6 February 2023, Kahramanmaras, Turkiye Earthquakes(Mdpi, 2023) Mertol, Halit Cenan; Tunc, Gokhan; Akis, Tolga; Kantekin, Yunus; Aydin, Ishak CanTwo major earthquakes struck Pazarcik and Elbistan, towns in Kahramanmaras, Turkiye, on 6 February 2023, approximately 9 h apart. The first earthquake, recorded at 04:17 local time, had a M-w = 7.7, with a focal depth of 8.6 km. At 13:24 local time, a second earthquake occurred with M-w = 7.6 at a focal depth of 7 km, approximately 90 km north of the first one. A total of 11 provinces were severely affected by these earthquakes. As of 15 April 2023, they caused close to 51,000 deaths and almost 215,000 completely destroyed/severely damaged buildings. At some locations, the largest horizontal peak ground acceleration (PGA) values of the first and second earthquakes exceeded the code-generated PGAs by almost 3 and 1.75 times, respectively. A technical team visited these areas within 15 h of the first earthquake. The purpose of this article is to present their observations, findings, and the characteristics of the two earthquakes, with comprehensive site survey results supported by photographs. This study concludes that most of the collapsed and severely/moderately damaged buildings in the region were built between 1975 and 2000, when site inspections were rare or non-existent. In addition to the high PGAs recorded in these earthquakes, it was verified that the design and construction of these buildings did not fully comply with the earthquake codes valid at the time. The collapsed buildings and their damage patterns confirm inadequate development length, violation of bending stirrup ends at 135 & DEG;, deficiencies in construction materials and reinforcement configuration, noncompliance with confinement zones, violation of the strong beam-stronger column analogy, and issues related to building inspection. Based on the extent of the damage, it is strongly recommended that the structural performance inspection of all other buildings located near major fault lines, specifically those constructed between 1975 and 2000, should be completed. Since these earthquakes generated much higher PGAs, which is believed to be one of the main reasons for the extensive damage, a re-evaluation of all other PGAs along major fault lines is also recommended.Article Citation - WoS: 15Citation - Scopus: 16Damage Observation of Reinforced Concrete Buildings After 2020 Sivrice (elazig) Earthquake, Turkey(Asce-amer Soc Civil Engineers, 2021) Cenan Mertol, Halit; Tunc, Gokhan; Akis, TolgaAn earthquake with a magnitude of M-w = 6.8 and a depth of approximately 8.06 km occurred on January 24, 2020, with the epicenter near the town of Sivrice in Elazig province, Turkey. The earthquake resulted in numerous collapses and severe structural damage to the buildings located in the downtowns and villages of Elazig and Malatya provinces. A technical team investigated the earthquake-affected areas, and this study presents their observations and findings with respect to reinforced concrete buildings. It was concluded that almost all of the collapsed or severely-damaged reinforced concrete buildings were constructed between 1975 and 1998. The design and construction of these buildings did not comply with the specifications of the Turkish earthquake codes valid at that time. The failures and severe damage of the buildings are associated with poor material quality, inadequate reinforcement configuration, and framing problems related to their lateral load-carrying systems. Therefore, it is recommended that buildings constructed between 1975 and 1998 in the region be structurally re-evaluated to avoid additional loss of life and property in future earthquakes. (C) 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
