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Images, UC QuakeStudies

Members of the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) setting up a tent in Latimer Square after their early-morning arrival in Christchurch. Latimer Square was set up as a temporary headquarters for emergency management personnel after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team walking down Lichfield Street. Plastic fencing and road cones have been placed along both sides of the road as cordons. Behind the fences are piles of bricks and other rubble from the buildings above.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team walking down Lichfield Street. Plastic fencing and road cones have been placed along both sides of the road as cordons. Behind the fences are piles of bricks and other rubble from the buildings above.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team walking down Lichfield Street towards the intersection of Manchester Street. Buildings on either side of the team have been damaged by the earthquake. Plastic and wire fences line the street to the right.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph looking north-west down High Street towards the intersection with Manchester Street. Rubble from several earthquake-damaged buildings lines both sides of the street. In the distance members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team and several excavators are working.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of a member of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team standing on Hereford Street near the intersection of Manchester Street. In the background is the Hotel Grand Chancellor. The hotel has a noticeable slump on the left side.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team walking down Lichfield Street. Plastic fencing and road cones have been placed along both sides of the road as cordons. Behind the fences are piles of bricks and other rubble from the buildings above.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team and the Red Cross, standing on the corner of Lichfield and Manchester Street. In the background an excavator is parked on the road. Behind the excavator is a block of earthquake-damaged buildings.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of a member of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team walking down Manchester Street. In the background is a group of earthquake-damaged shops. The outer walls of the top storeys of the shops have collapsed, the bricks spilling onto the street.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team in Latimer Square. In the background, another emergency management team is sitting next to a tent. Other tents are dotted around the square. A cherry picker is also sitting in the background.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of the Copthorne Hotel on the corner of Kilmore and Durham Streets. Tape has been draped around the footpath in front of the building. A member of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team is walking through the intersection below.

Research papers, The University of Auckland Library

The full scale, in-situ investigations of instrumented buildings present an excellent opportunity to observe their dynamic response in as-built environment, which includes all the real physical properties of a structure under study and its surroundings. The recorded responses can be used for better understanding of behavior of structures by extracting their dynamic characteristics. It is significantly valuable to examine the behavior of buildings under different excitation scenarios. The trends in dynamic characteristics, such as modal frequencies and damping ratios, thus developed can provide quantitative data for the variations in the behavior of buildings. Moreover, such studies provide invaluable information for the development and calibration of realistic models for the prediction of seismic response of structures in model updating and structural health monitoring studies. This thesis comprises two parts. The first part presents an evaluation of seismic responses of two instrumented three storey RC buildings under a selection of 50 earthquakes and behavioral changes after Ms=7.1 Darfield (2010) and Ms=6.3 Christchurch (2011) earthquakes for an instrumented eight story RC building. The dynamic characteristics of the instrumented buildings were identified using state-of-the-art N4SID system identification technique. Seismic response trends were developed for the three storey instrumented buildings in light of the identified frequencies and the peak response accelerations (PRA). Frequencies were observed to decrease with excitation level while no trends are discernible for the damping ratios. Soil-structure interaction (SSI) effects were also determined to ascertain their contribution in the seismic response. For the eight storey building, it was found through system identification that strong nonlinearities in the structural response occurred and manifested themselves in all identified natural frequencies of the building that exhibited a marked decrease during the strong motion duration compared to the pre-Darfield earthquakes. Evidence of foundation rocking was also found that led to a slight decrease in the identified modal frequencies. Permanent stiffness loss was also observed after the strong motion events. The second part constitutes developing and calibrating finite element model (FEM) of the instrumented three storey RC building with a shear core. A three dimensional FEM of the building is developed in stages to analyze the effect of structural, non-structural components (NSCs) and SSI on the building dynamics. Further to accurately replicate the response of the building following the response trends developed in the first part of the thesis, sensitivity based model updating technique was applied. The FEMs were calibrated by tuning the updating parameters which are stiffnesses of concrete, NSCs and soil. The updating parameters were found to generally follow decreasing trends with the excitation level. Finally, the updated FEM was used in time history analyses to assess the building seismic performance at the serviceability limit state shaking. Overall, this research will contribute towards better understanding and prediction of the behavior of structures subjected to ground motion.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Prime Minister John Key preparing for a photograph with members of the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) outside the US headquarters in Latimer Square. Canterbury Recovery Minister Jerry Brownlee is standing behind him.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Members of the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) photographed with their team leader, Al Dwyer, Prime Minister John Key, and Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee, outside the US headquarters in Latimer Square.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Members of USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) being briefed after their early-morning arrival from Los Angeles. The 80-person DART team arrived in Christchurch to assist local authorities after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Members of the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) and New Zealand Urban Search and Rescue breaking through the floor of a building which was severely damaged during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Al Dwyer, and members of the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) outside their headquarters in Latimer Square. Latimer Square was set up as a temporary headquarters for emergency management personnel after the 22 February 2011 earthquake.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A member of the New Zealand Police photographed with a member of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Personnel from the Los Angeles County Fire Department travelled to New Zealand to help out with the search and rescue response to the 22 February 2011 earthquake.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Members of the New Zealand Fire Service and USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) shaking hands outside the Christchurch City Fire Station on Kilmore Street. DART travelled to Christchurch after the 22 February 2011 earthquake to help out in the relief efforts.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Members of the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) hoisted on the platform of a crane, next to the Forsyth Barr Building on the corner of Armagh and Colombo Streets. Some of the windows below have been broken open by Urban Search and Rescue workers looking for trapped people.

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

Members of the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) and New Zealand Urban Search and Rescue breaking through the floor of a building which was severely damaged during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team standing on the corner of Lichfield and Manchester Streets. In the background an excavator has been parked on the street. In the background is a large pile of rubble from several earthquake-damaged buildings.

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.