A PDF copy of pages 236-237 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Volstead Trading Company'. Photos: Irene Boles
A photograph of the outdoor seating area of the Volstead Trading Company.
This thesis addresses the topic of local bond behaviour in RC structures. The mechanism of bond refers to the composite action between deformed steel reinforcing bars and the surrounding concrete. Bond behaviour is an open research topic with a wide scope, particularly because bond it is such a fundamental concept to structural engineers. However, despite many bond-related research findings having wide applications, the primary contribution of this research is an experimental evaluation of the prominent features of local bond behaviour and the associated implications for the seismic performance of RC structures. The findings presented in this thesis attempt to address some structural engineering recommendations made by the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission following the 2010-2011 Canterbury (New Zealand) earthquake sequence. A chapter of this thesis discusses the structural behaviour of flexure-dominated RC wall structures with an insufficient quantity of longitudinal reinforcement, among other in situ conditions, that causes material damage to predominantly occur at a single crack plane. In this particular case, the extent of concrete damage and bond deterioration adjacent to the crack plane will influence the ductility capacity that is effectively provided by the reinforcing steel. As a consequence of these in situ conditions, some lightly reinforced wall buildings in Christchurch lost their structural integrity due to brittle fracture of the longitudinal reinforcement. With these concerning post-earthquake observations in mind, there is the underlying intention that this thesis presents experimental evidence of bond behaviour that allows structural engineers to re-assess their confidence levels for the ability of lightly reinforced concrete structures to achieve the life-safety seismic performance objective the ultimate limit state. Three chapters of this thesis are devoted to the experimental work that was conducted as the main contribution of this research. Critical details of the experimental design, bond testing method and test programme are reported. The bond stress-slip relationship was studied through 75 bond pull-out tests. In order to measure the maximum local bond strength, all bond tests were carried out on deformed reinforcing bars that did not yield as the embedded bond length was relatively short. Bond test results have been presented in two separate chapters in which 48 monotonic bond tests and 27 cyclic bond tests are presented. Permutations of the experiments include the loading rate, cyclic loading history, concrete strength (25 to 70 MPa), concrete age, cover thickness, bar diameter (16 and 20 mm), embedded length, and position of the embedded bond region within the specimen (close or far away to the free surface). The parametric study showed that the concrete strength significantly influences the maximum bond strength and that it is reasonable to normalise the bond stress by the square-root of the concrete compressive strength, √(f'c). The generalised monotonic bond behaviour is described within. An important outcome of the research is that the measured bond strength and stiffness was higher than stated by the bond stress-slip relationship in the fib Model Code 2010. To account for these observed differences, an alternative model is proposed for the local monotonic bond stress-slip relationship. Cyclic bond tests showed a significant proportion of the total bond degradation occurs after the loading cycle in the peak bond strength range, which is when bond slip has exceeded 0.5 mm. Subsequent loading to constant slip values showed a linear relationship between the amount of bond strength degradation and the log of the number of cycles that were applied. To a greater extent, the cyclic bond deterioration depends on the bond slip range, regardless of whether the applied load cycling is half- or fully-reversed. The observed bond deterioration and hysteretic energy dissipated during cyclic loading was found to agree reasonably well between these cyclic tests with different loading protocols. The cyclic bond deterioration was also found to be reasonably consistent exponential damage models found in the literature. This research concluded that the deformed reinforcing bars used in NZ construction, embedded in moderate to high strength concrete, are able to develop high local bond stresses that are mobilised by a small amount of local bond slip. Although the relative rib geometry was not varied within this experimental programme, a general conclusion of this thesis is that deformed bars currently available in NZ have a relative rib bearing area that is comparatively higher than the test bars used in previous international research. From the parametric study it was found that the maximum monotonic bond strength is significant enhanced by dynamic loading rates. Experimental evidence of high bond strength and initial bond stiffness generally suggests that only a small amount of local bond slip that can occur when the deformed test bar was subjected to large tension forces. Minimal bond slip and bond damage limits the effective yielding length that is available for the reinforcing steel to distribute inelastic material strains. Consequently, the potential for brittle fracture of the reinforcement may be a more problematic and widespread issue than is apparent to structural engineers. This research has provided information that improve the reliability of engineering predictions (with respect to ductility capacity) of maximum crack widths and the extent of bond deterioration that might occur in RC structures during seismic actions.
The corner of Gloucester Street and Cambridge Terrace. Security fences and road cones surround the Santorini Greek Ouzeri restaurant and bar.
A digitally manipulated image of building rubble.
A photograph of Liquidity bar on Oxford Terrace. The awning is bent and USAR codes have been spray-painted on the windows.
A digger and two workers on top of demolition rubble from the Volcano Cafe and Lava Bar on London Street in Lyttelton.
A photograph of the interior of the Hotel Grand Chancellor. The photograph is captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The bar tenders' floor".
The remains of a historic building housing The Ruptured Duck Pizzeria and Bar, and Harcourts Real Estate, on Wakefield Avenue in Sumner.
USAR codes have been spray painted in pink on the bottom-left corner of Santorini Greek Restaurant and Bar on Gloucester Street.
A digger and two workers on top of demolition rubble from the Volcano Cafe and Lava Bar on London Street in Lyttelton.
A digger and two workers on top of demolition rubble from the Volcano Cafe and Lava Bar on London Street in Lyttelton.
The remains of a historic building housing The Ruptured Duck Pizzeria and Bar, and Harcourts Real Estate, on Wakefield Avenue in Sumner.
A photograph of Liquidity bar on Oxford Terrace. The awning is bent and USAR codes have been spray-painted on the windows.
The intersection of Lichfield Street, High Street and Manchester Street. Shipping containers are reinforcing the facade of the Excelsior Sports Bar building.
Damage to Wave House on Gloucester Street (Winnie Bagoes Pizza Bar). The roof and left side of the building have collapsed and crumbled into the street, crushing several cars. Emergency personnel have spray painted two of the cars with the word "Clear" to indicate they have been checked for trapped or injured people. The scene has been cordoned off by New Zealand Fire Service tape.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the Iconic bar on the corner of Manchester and Gloucester Streets. Large sections of the outer walls have collapsed, the bricks and masonry spilling onto the footpath below, crushing several cars. USAR codes have been spray-painted near the door and a red sticker has been taped above. The red sticker indicates that the building is unsafe to enter.
A satirical sign for Tui Beer on the side of a bar in Sydenham reading, "Earthquake? We closed for renovations. Yeah right. Tui".
Security fences surround the Santorini Greek Ouzeri restaurant and bar on Gloucester Street. Some of the windows have been broken and left open.
The cleared Volcano Cafe and Lava Bar site on London Street in Lyttelton, viewed from the corner of Canterbury Street and London Street.
The cleared Volcano Cafe and Lava Bar site on London Street in Lyttelton, viewed from the corner of Canterbury Street and London Street.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Cafes and bars in Victoria Street. From left to right are Decadence, Kum Pun and Cruz".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Bedford Row looking across to Lichfield Street. By now the Bar Beleza building is an empty site".
A photograph of coloured shipping containers stacked in front of the facade of the partially-demolished Excelsior Sports Bar building on Manchester Street.
A photograph of coloured shipping containers stacked in front of the facade of the partially-demolished Excelsior Sports Bar building on Manchester Street.
A photograph of coloured shipping containers stacked in front of the facade of the partially-demolished Excelsior Sports Bar building on Manchester Street.
A photograph of coloured shipping containers stacked in front of the facade of the partially-demolished Excelsior Sports Bar building on Manchester Street.
The possibility of another earthquake in Christchurch, the Prime Minister's son planks, and lighting up inside an Auckland bar on No Tobacco Day.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Poplar Lane looking north".
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Site of Manchester Courts in the foreground on left. Then Tree house, Sullivans, Boogie Nights and Shooters Bars".