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The 22 February 2011, Mw6.2-6.3 Christchurch earthquake is the most costly earthquake to affect New Zealand, causing 181 fatalities and severely damaging thousands of residential and commercial buildings, and most of the city lifelines and infrastructure. This manuscript presents an overview of observed geotechnical aspects of this earthquake as well as some of the completed and on-going research investigations. A unique aspect, which is particularly emphasized, is the severity and spatial extent of liquefaction occurring in native soils. Overall, both the spatial extent and severity of liquefaction in the city was greater than in the preceding 4th September 2010 Darfield earthquake, including numerous areas that liquefied in both events. Liquefaction and lateral spreading, variable over both large and short spatial scales, affected commercial structures in the Central Business District (CBD) in a variety of ways including: total and differential settlements and tilting; punching settlements of structures with shallow foundations; differential movements of components of complex structures; and interaction of adjacent structures via common foundation soils. Liquefaction was most severe in residential areas located to the east of the CBD as a result of stronger ground shaking due to the proximity to the causative fault, a high water table approximately 1m from the surface, and soils with composition and states of high susceptibility and potential for liquefaction. Total and differential settlements, and lateral movements, due to liquefaction and lateral spreading is estimated to have severely compromised 15,000 residential structures, the majority of which otherwise sustained only minor to moderate damage directly due to inertial loading from ground shaking. Liquefaction also had a profound effect on lifelines and other infrastructure, particularly bridge structures, and underground services. Minor damage was also observed at flood stop banks to the north of the city, which were more severely impacted in the 4th September 2010 Darfield earthquake. Due to the large high-frequency ground motion in the Port hills numerous rock falls and landslides also occurred, resulting in several fatalities and rendering some residential areas uninhabitable.
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This paper details efforts to characterize the small-strain dynamic properties of 13 strong motion station (SMS) sites in the greater Christchurch, New Zealand area. These SMS recorded a unique set of ground motions (GM) from the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes. Currently, little information about the subsurface layering and dynamic characteristics at these 13 SMS is available. Information provided by GeoNet consists only of generalised layering based on regional geological characteristics and nearby well logs, with no information on dynamic properties. Consequently, the seismic site classifications of these sites were largely based on assumptions. To better define the site classifications, we performed active- and passive-source surface wave testing to obtain shear wave velocity (Vs) profiles at each site. The Vs profiles were used to calculate the average Vs over the top 30 m of the subsurface and to estimate the natural period of vibration (Tn). Additionally, estimates of Tn were obtained by computing the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios from recorded GM at each SMS. Based on this new information, we have updated the site classifications at the 13 SMS sites tested; 10 of which ended up with a slightly different site classification than the original assumption (often one site class lower).
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This manuscript provides a critical examination of the ground motions recorded in the near-source region resulting from the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Particular attention is given to reconciling the observed spatial distribution of ground motions in terms of physical phenomena related to source, path and site effects. The large number of near-source observed strong ground motions show clear evidence of: forward-directivity, basin generated surface waves, liquefaction and other significant nonlinear site response. The pseudo-acceleration response spectra (SA) amplitudes and significant duration of strong motions agree well with empirical prediction models, except at long vibration periods where the influence of basin-generated surface waves and nonlinear site response are significant and not adequately accounted for in empirical SA models. Pseudo-acceleration response spectra are also compared with those observed in the 4 September 2010 Darfield earthquake and routine design response spectra used in order to emphasise the amplitude of ground shaking and elucidate the importance of local geotechnical characteristics on surface ground motions. The characteristics of the observed vertical component accelerations are shown to be strongly dependent on source-to-site distance and are comparable with those from the 4 September 2010 Darfield earthquake, implying the large amplitudes observed are simply a result of many observations at close distances rather than a peculiar source effect.
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Field evidence has established that strong earthquakes can cause severe damage or even collapse of liquid storage tanks. Many tanks worldwide are built near the coast on soft soils of marginal quality. Because of the difference in stiffness between the tank (rigid), foundation (rigid) and the soil (flexible), soil-foundation-structure interaction (SFSI) has an important effect on the seismic response, often causing an elongation of the period of the impulsive mode. This elongation is likely to produce a significant change in the seismic response of the tank and will affect the loading on the structure. An issue not well understood, in the case of unanchored tanks, is uplift of the tank base that usually occurs under anything more than moderate dynamic loading. This paper presents a comparison of the loads obtained using “Appendix E of API STANDARD 650” of the American Petroleum Institute and the “Seismic Design of Storage Tanks” produced by the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering. The seismic response assessed using both codes is presented for a range of tanks incorporating a range of the most relevant parameters in design. The results obtained from the analyses showed that both standards provide similar base shear and overturning moment; however, the results given for the anchorage requirement and uplift are different.
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This paper presents a new technique for modelling the dynamic response of uplifting rigid structures subjected to base excitation. The proposed technique exploits the use of a two spring foundation, and subsequently an equivalent single-degree-of-freedom procedure is established to model the dynamics of the system. A set of simplified closed-form expressions have been developed to estimate the system’s restoring force-displacement characteristics. The simplified expressions only require details of the system geometry and are shown to predict the nonlinear force-displacement characteristics of a rocking structure as closely as those determined from a complicated pushover analysis.
This paper presents two additional numerical examples to demonstrate the use of the proposed technique to simulate the displacement time-histories of a prototype structure under free-vibration-decay or when subjected to earthquake excitations.
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Capacity design, while protecting a structure against undesirable energy dissipations, has major implications on member sizes and overall cost. Furthermore, in some situations where protected elements possess some inelastic deformation capacity, it may be unwarranted. One of these situations is when the forces applied to the protected elements result from viscous dampers. This is because when viscous forces cause yielding in an element, the element deforms, so no deformation in the viscous damper is required. If no deformation is required, the velocity is zero, so there is no force. This implies that very little inelastic yielding is likely to occur in protected elements.
In order to investigate whether or not this is so, a single storey structure was designed and fitted with braces to reduce its response. Both hysteretic and viscous braces were used to obtain the same peak displacement response. The column strength was decreased by a fixed percentage and inelastic dynamic time history analysis was conducted. The amount of energy dissipated in the columns was then compared to determine whether hysteretic braces or viscous braces caused more column yielding so that appropriate over strength values could be developed for different brace types. It was found that the amount of energy absorbed by the column depends on the period but also on the brace design ductility. However, irrespective of the period or design ductility, the column hysteretic energy dissipated by a viscous brace was lower than that dissipated by a hysteretic brace. It follows that column yielding may be significantly less critical for viscous, rather than for hysteresis, braced structures.
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A devastating earthquake hit the Tohoku and Kanto regions of Japan on 11 March 2011, causing extensive damage to life and property as a result of a large-scale tsunami and damage to nuclear power plants. Although located about 400 km away from the epicentre, many residential and commercial buildings and lifeline facilities in Tokyo Bay area suffered extensive damage due to soil liquefaction and associated ground deformation. This paper discusses the results of the damage investigation conducted in the area after the earthquake, with emphasis on liquefaction-induced damage to buildings, roads, lifelines and other infrastructure. In addition, the performance of ground improved by various remediation techniques is discussed. Finally, lessons learned from the event are summarised.
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The use of hybrid joints to provide pre-cast concrete and timber structures with ductile response and self-centering capability is becoming increasingly popular in New Zealand, as is evident by the increasing number of building solutions that incorporate the technology as well as the design provisions for hybrid systems currently included in the New Zealand Concrete standard. This paper raises some issues with the current code approach to estimate the inelastic seismic displacement demand on hybrid systems. The work then presents the results of a series of non-linear time history analyses of single degree of freedom (SDOF) systems characterised by the flag-shaped hysteretic rule, in order to identify a general, improved expression for the equivalent viscous damping of hybrid systems. The new equivalent viscous damping expression is expected to provide more reliable control of inelastic displacement demands for hybrid systems design used Displacement-Based Design (DBD) procedures. In addition, the last part of the paper also discusses how the findings in the paper could be utilised to provide improved control of displacement demands when hybrid systems are designed using force-based procedures.
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Drywalls are the typical infill or partitions used in new structures. They are usually located within structural frames and/or between upper and lower floor slabs in buildings. Due to the materials used in their construction, unlike masonry blocks, they can be considered as light non-structural infill/partition walls. These types of walls are especially popular in New Zealand and the USA. In spite of their popularity, little is known about their in-plane cyclic behaviour when infilled within a structural frame. The cause of this lack of knowledge can be attributed to the typical assumption that they are weak non-structural elements and are not expected to interact with the surrounding structural system significantly. However, recent earthquakes have repeatedly shown that drywalls interact with the structure and suffer severe damage at very low drift levels. In this paper, experimental test results of two typical drywall types (steel and timber framed) are reported in order to gather further information on; i) their reverse cyclic behaviour, ii) inter-storey drift levels at which they suffer different levels of damage, iii) the level of interaction with the surrounding structural frame system. The drywall specimens were tested using quasi-static reverse cyclic testing protocols within a full scale precast RC frame at the Structures Laboratory of the University of Canterbury.
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Shortcomings of modern seismic design in reinforced concrete have necessitated the development of new systems capable of addressing these issues. Able to be constructed using existing industry techniques, the slotted beam is one such practicable, economic solution. While earlier research by Au (2010) showed promising results for this system, it also highlighted issues with bond of beam reinforcement within interior joints and understanding of the joint shear mechanism. This paper explains and addresses these issues through a summary of the desktop and experimental research undertaken. The results were encouraging with 2 specimens successfully tested without bar slip and minimal beam elongation.
