The main challenge of any structure is to withstand the thrust during and after construction process. The architectural remnants of the so-called structure of Ark-e-Alishah in Tabriz; Northwest Iran, was for a long time considered the last of a sequence of the large-scale monumental structures, with its hypothesized 29 m diameter arch being the most magnificent made in the Islamic World during Ilkhanid era (1256–1353 CE). Despite this, being likely beyond the theoretical maximum size for this type of construction, this (hypothetical) arch has been identified by more than half a century’s studies of historic architecture, archaeological investigation, as well as in travel reports from later times as being the Great Ali-Shah Mosque. Based on this pre-assumption, it was proposed to build a U-shape structure, including roughly 11-m thickness for its walls; the hope would be to clarify the structural limitations of this building in terms of stability, durability, vulnerability and the impossibility of creating any type of arch or vault in the mentioned span and to shed new light on the incompatibly of the current structure with preexisting results. Contrarily to the historic reports, finite element method was employed as a means to get a better understanding of the essential requisites of this building to remain in equilibrium. The results highlight a paradox of historical engineering, that the tension result of loading due to any kind of vault would exceed the structural standards of buckling failure, causing gross deformation and fracture of vertical units under various loading conditions. From this point of view, there has never been any kind of arch nor vault in this building at anytime. In other words, what is known as today’s remnants of the so-called Ark-e-Alishah is in the complete contradiction with what is known as the medieval Ali-Shah Mosque, including a great vaulted span.

中文翻译：

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在所谓的 Ark-e-Alishah 中曾经有过拱门吗？

任何结构的主要挑战是在施工过程中和施工后承受推力。大不里士所谓的 Ark-e-Alishah 结构的建筑遗迹；伊朗西北部长期以来被认为是一系列大型纪念性建筑中的最后一个，其假设的 29 m 直径拱门是伊尔汗尼德时代（公元 1256-1353 年）伊斯兰世界最宏伟的建筑。尽管如此，这个（假设的）拱门很可能超出了这种建筑的理论最大尺寸，半个多世纪以来对历史建筑、考古调查以及后来的旅行报告的研究已经确定它是伟大的阿里沙阿清真寺。基于这个预设，有人提议建造一个U形结构，包括大约 11 米厚的墙壁；希望是在稳定性、耐久性、脆弱性以及在上述跨度内创建任何类型的拱门或拱顶的可能性方面澄清这座建筑的结构限制，并阐明当前结构与先前存在的结果不兼容的问题. 与历史报告相反，有限元方法被用作一种手段，以更好地了解这座建筑保持平衡的基本要求。结果突出了历史工程的一个悖论，即任何一种拱顶加载的张力结果都会超过屈曲破坏的结构标准，导致垂直单元在各种加载条件下发生严重变形和断裂。从这个角度来说，这座建筑中从来没有任何形式的拱门或拱顶。换句话说，今天所谓的 Ark-e-Alishah 遗迹与所谓的中世纪阿里沙阿清真寺完全矛盾，包括一个巨大的拱形跨度。