Damage to one of the gables of the Music Centre of Christchurch building on Barbadoes Street. The gaps left by the collapse of the building's masonry have been weather proofed with a tarpaulin.
The west side of the Arts Centre further damaged by an aftershock after the 22 February 2011 earthquake. The tower on the corner has crumbled, and the masonry fallen onto the pavement below.
Damage to one of the gables of the Music Centre of Christchurch building on Barbadoes Street. The gaps left by the collapse of the building's masonry have been weather proofed with a tarpaulin.
New Zealand’s stock of unreinforced masonry (URM) bearing wall buildings was principally constructed between 1880 and 1935, using fired clay bricks and lime or cement mortar. These buildings are particularly vulnerable to horizontal loadings such as those induced by seismic accelerations, due to a lack of tensile force-resisting elements in their construction. The poor seismic performance of URM buildings was recently demonstrated in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, where a large number of URM buildings suffered irreparable damage and resulted in a significant number of fatalities and casualties. One of the predominant failure modes that occurs in URM buildings is diagonal shear cracking of masonry piers. This diagonal cracking is caused by earthquake loading orientated parallel to the wall surface and typically generates an “X” shaped crack pattern due to the reversed cyclic nature of earthquake accelerations. Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) is a class of fiber reinforced cement composite that exhibits a strain-hardening characteristic when loaded in tension. The tensile characteristics of ECC make it an ideal material for seismic strengthening of clay brick unreinforced masonry walls. Testing was conducted on 25 clay brick URM wallettes to investigate the increase in shear strength for a range of ECC thicknesses applied to the masonry wallettes as externally bonded shotcrete reinforcement. The results indicated that there is a diminishing return between thickness of the applied ECC overlay and the shear strength increase obtained. It was also shown that, the effectiveness of the externally bonded reinforcement remained constant for one and two leaf wallettes, but decreased rapidly for wall thicknesses greater than two leafs. The average pseudo-ductility of the strengthened wallettes was equal to 220% of that of the as-built wallettes, demonstrating that ECC shotcrete is effective at enhancing both the in-plane strength and the pseudo-ductility of URM wallettes AM - Accepted Manuscript
It is well known that buildings constructed using unreinforced masonry (URM) are susceptible to damage from earthquake induced lateral forces that may result in partial or full building collapse. The 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes are the most recent New Zealand example of destructive earthquakes, which have drawn people's attention to the inherent seismic weaknesses of URM buildings and anchored masonry veneer systems in New Zealand. A brief review of the data collected following the 2010 Darfield earthquake and more comprehensive documentation of data that was collected following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake is presented, along with the findings from subsequent data interrogation. Large stocks of earthquake prone vintage URM buildings that remain in New Zealand and in other seismically active parts of the world result in the need for minimally invasive and cost effective seismic retrofit techniques. The principal objective of the doctoral research reported herein was to investigate the applicability of near surface mounted (NSM) carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) strips as a seismic improvement technique. A comprehensive experimental program consisting of 53 pull tests is presented and is used to assess the accuracy of existing FRP-to-masonry bond models, with a modified model being proposed. The strength characteristics of vintage clay brick URM wall panels from two existing URM buildings was established and used as a benchmark when manufacturing replica clay brick test assemblages. The applicability of using NSM CFRP strips as a retrofitting technique for improving the shear strength and the ductility capacity of multi-leaf URM walls constructed using solid clay brick masonry is investigated by varying CFRP reinforcement ratios. Lastly, an experimental program was undertaken to validate the proposed design methodology for improving the strength capacity of URM walls. The program involved testing full-scale walls in a laboratory setting and testing full-scale walls in-situ in existing vintage URM buildings. Experimental test results illustrated that the NSM CFRP technique is an effective method to seismically strengthen URM buildings
A view across Armagh Street to the Cranmer Centre. Scaffolding has been constructed on the building's Armagh Street face, while on the Montreal Street side masonry from the walls has collapsed onto the road.
Damage to the former Sumner Borough Council building. The brickwork is badly cracked, and parts of the wall have collapsed, exposing the interior. Shipping containers below the building protect the street from falling masonry.
The Seido Karate Shibu building on Barbadoes Street. The top section of the building has been weather proofed with plywood where the masonry has fallen away and its side has been braced with timber.
Damage to the former Sumner Borough Council building. The brickwork is badly cracked, and parts of the wall have collapsed, exposing the interior. Shipping containers below the building protect the street from falling masonry.
Damage to the former Sumner Borough Council building. The brickwork is badly cracked, and parts of the wall have collapsed, exposing the interior. Shipping containers below the building protect the street from falling masonry.
A view inside the safety fence surrounding the Cranmer Courts on Montreal Street. Sections of masonry from the building have collapsed onto the footpath. In the background a crane can be seen working on the building.
A photograph of the Durham Street Methodist Church blocked off by wire fencing. The tip of the façade is damaged.
A photograph of cracks around a window of the Observatory tower at the Christchurch Arts Centre. The cracks formed as a result of the 4 September 2010 earthquake.
A photograph of cracks around a window of the Observatory tower at the Christchurch Arts Centre. The cracks formed as a result of the 4 September 2010 earthquake.
A photograph of cracks around a window of the Observatory tower at the Christchurch Arts Centre. The cracks formed as a result of the 4 September 2010 earthquake.
Damage to the Repertory Theatre building. Part of the facade has collapsed onto the awning below, and bricks and masonry have spilled across the street. The building is cordoned off with road cones and police tape.
A video recording of a lecture presented by Professor Rajesh Dhakal and Professor Andy Buchanan as part of the 2011 University of Canterbury Earthquake Lecture Series.
A view across Canterbury Street in Lyttelton to The Volcano Cafe and The Lava Bar. Masonry from the buildings has collapsed onto the footpath, and the site has been cordoned off by a safety fence.
This thesis describes the strategies for earthquake strengthening vintage clay bricks unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings. URM buildings are well known to be vulnerable to damage from earthquake-induced lateral forces that may result in partial or full building collapse. The 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes are the most recent destructive natural disaster that resulted in the deaths of 185 people. The earthquake events had drawn people’s attention when URM failure and collapse caused about 39 of the fatality. Despite the poor performance of URM buildings during the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes, a number of successful case study buildings were identified and their details research in-depth. In order to discover the successful seismic retrofitting techniques, two case studies of retrofitted historical buildings located in Christchurch, New Zealand i.e. Orion’s URM substations and an iconic Heritage Hotel (aka Old Government Building) was conducted by investigating and evaluating the earthquake performance of the seismic retrofitting technique applied on the buildings prior to the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes and their performance after the earthquakes sequence. The second part of the research reported in this thesis was directed with the primary aim of developing a cost-effective seismic retrofitting technique with minimal interference to the vintage clay-bricks URM buildings. Two retrofitting techniques, (i) near-surface mounted steel wire rope (NSM-SWR) with further investigation on URM wallettes to get deeper understanding the URM in-plane behaviour, and (ii) FRP anchor are reported in this research thesis
Since the mid 1990s, the Christchurch inventory of substation buildings was seismically retrofitted as part of the Risk and Realities improvement programme. • The substation buildings were retrofitted using a system of simple and cost-effective steel elements. • The 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes caused significant immediate disruption to power distribution network in Christchurch. • It took a single day in September 2010 and ten days in February 2011 to restore power to 90% customers. Tostudytheseismicperformanceofmasonrysubstationbuildingsfromamulti-disciplinary perspective on structural,economic and social aspects.
St John the Baptist Church on Latimer Square. The masonry of the bell tower has crumbled onto the lawn, exposing the inside. Damage to the roof and the tip of the gable can also be seen.
A photograph of the earthquake damage to the Canterbury Provincial Chambers. The top section of the building has crumbled, the masonry spilling onto the footpath. Wire fencing has been placed around the building as a cordon.
A view across Hereford Street to the former Canterbury Public Library. Masonry from the building's corners and end gable has fallen onto the footpath and wire fencing has been placed around the building as a cordon.
A view across Cambridge Terrace to the former Canterbury Public Library. Masonry from the building's corners and end gable has fallen onto the footpath below. Wire fencing has been placed around the building as a cordon.
Unreinforced masonry churches in New Zealand, similarly to everywhere else in the word have proven to be highly vulnerable to earthquakes, because of their particular construction features. The Canterbury (New Zealand) earthquake sequence, 2010-2011 caused an invaluable loss of local architectural heritage and of churches, as regrettably, some of them were demolished instead of being repaired. It is critical for New Zealand to advance the data collection, research and understanding pertaining to the seismic performance and protection of church buildings, with the aim to:
An earthquake-damaged building on Ferry Road. A silver tarpaulin has been used to weather proof a section of the building where masonry has fallen away, and a safety fence has been erected at the building's base.
A view across Cambridge Terrace to the former Canterbury Public Library. Masonry from the building's corners and end gable has fallen onto the footpath and the base of the building has been cordoned off with wire fencing.
Structural damage to St Elmo Courts with diagonal cracks between the windows of the building. These cracks show that there has been rocking of the masonry piers which means there is no vertical reinforcement provided in the walls.
A corner of the Cramner Centre with large cracks in its masonry. Several names, probably those of former students, have been written on the building. They are 'Jenny Adams, 63-64', 'Elody Mapp, 1964' and 'Pam Soal, 1963, 1964'.
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 other rubble spilling onto the footpath below.