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Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team and the New Zealand Police inspecting the Cherish Bridal and Formal Wear store on Montreal Street. Inside the store one of the ERT members is attempting to break through a wall.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team and the New Zealand Police inspecting the Cherish Bridal and Formal Wear store on Montreal Street. Inside the store one of the ERT members is attempting to break through a wall.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team and the Red Cross working on High and Manchester Streets. On both sides of the street there are piles of rubble from the earthquake-damaged buildings. Several excavators have been parked in a line along the street.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team standing in a car park on Lichfield Street. The team are wearing face and gas masks, hard hats, safety glasses, knee pads, and rubber gloves. In the background are several earthquake-damaged buildings.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team standing on the intersection of Manchester and Lichfield Streets. In the background is the Majestic Theatre. Piles of rubble from earthquake-damaged buildings has been piled on the road below the building.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of an excavator clearing the rubble from earthquake-damaged buildings on Lichfield Street. The rubble has been gathered from the street and piled up beside the Majestic Theatre. In the foreground a member of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team is crossing the street.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of a map used by the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team. The block of buildings between Montreal, Acton, St Asaph, and Antigua Streets has been outlined in red. Halkett Street has also been coloured in red. Various buildings around these areas have been highlighted in orange and blue.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of a member of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team standing on the bank of the Avon River. In the background are the remains of the collapsed PGC Building. An excavator is on top of these remains, working to clear them away.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of a member of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team standing on the bank of the Avon River. In the background are the remains of the collapsed PGC Building. An excavator is on top of these remains, working to clear them away.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of a member of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team pointing to an earthquake-damaged house in central Christchurch. A large section of the house has collapsed, the rubble spilling onto the driveway. Emergency tape has been draped across the driveway as a cordon.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of a member of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team walking through the intersection of Manchester and Gloucester Streets. In the background, Manchester Street has been cordoned off with wire fences and is littered with rubble. Many of the buildings in view are severely damaged.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of a member of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team inside an office. In the foreground, the drawers of filing cabinets have opened. Files and posters litter the ground. The coverings over the lights have shaken loose, and one is hanging just behind the ERT member.

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Christchurch-based 11 year-old piano player talks about the compostition he wrote in response to the Sepetmber 4 earthquake.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Research following the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes investigated the minimum vertical reinforcement required in RC walls to generate well distributed cracking in the plastic hinge region. However, the influence of the loading sequence and rate has not been fully addressed. The new minimum vertical reinforcement limits in NZS 3101:2006 (Amendment 3) include consideration of the material strengths under dynamic load rates, but these provisions have not been validated at a member or system level. A series of tests were conducted on RC prisms to investigate the effect of loading rate and sequence on the local behaviour of RC members. Fifteen axially loaded RC prisms with the designs representing the end region of RC walls were tested under various loading rates to cover the range of pseudo-static and earthquake loading scenarios. These tests will provide substantial data for understanding the local behaviour of RC members, including hysteretic load-deformation behaviour, crack patterns, failure mode, steel strain, strain rate and ductility. Recommendations will be made regarding the effect of loading rate and reinforcement content on the cracking behaviour and ductility of RC members.

Research papers, The University of Auckland Library

Soil-structure interaction (SSI) has been widely studied during the last decades. The influence of the properties of the ground motion, the structure and the soil have been addressed. However, most of the studies in this field consider a stand-alone structure. This assumption is rarely justifiable in dense urban areas where structures are built close to one another. The dynamic interaction between adjacent structures has been studied since the early 1970s, mainly using numerical and analytical models. Even though the early works in this field have significantly contributed to understanding this problem, they commonly consider important simplifications such as assuming a linear behaviour of the structure and the soil. Some experimental works addressing adjacent structures have recently been conducted using geotechnical centrifuges and 1g shake tables. However, further research is needed to enhance the understanding of this complex phenomenon. A particular case of SSI is that of structures founded in fine loose saturated sandy soil. An iconic example was the devastating effects of liquefaction in Christchurch, New Zealand, during the Canterbury earthquake in 2011. In the case of adjacent structures on liquefiable soil, the experimental evidence is even scarcer. The present work addresses the dynamic interaction between adjacent structures by performing multiple experimental studies. The work starts with two-adjacent structures on a small soil container to expose the basics of the problem. Later, results from tests considering a more significant number of structures on a big laminar box filled with sand are presented. Finally, the response of adjacent structures on saturated sandy soil is addressed using a geotechnical centrifuge and a large 1g shake table. This research shows that the acceleration, lateral displacement, foundation rocking, damping ratio, and fundamental frequency of the structure of focus are considerably affected by the presence of neighbouring buildings. In general, adjacent buildings reduced the dynamic response of the structure of focus on dry sand. However, the acceleration was amplified when the structures had a similar fundamental frequency. In the case of structures on saturated sand, the presence of adjacent structures reduced the liquefaction potential. Neighbouring structures on saturated sand also presented larger rotation of the footing and lateral displacement of the top mass than that of the stand-alone case.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

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.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Al Dwyer, leader of the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), outside the US headquarters in Latimer Square. Members of DART can be seen behind him. Latimer Square was set up as a temporary headquarters for emergency management personnel after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Prime Minister John Key talking to Al Dwyer, the leader of the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), outside the US headquarters in Latimer Square. John Key is visiting to thank DART for their efforts in the aftermath of the 22 February 2011 earthquake.