A photograph of a plaque in the foyer of the new Kaiapoi Library and Civic Centre. The plaque reads, "Ruataniwha Kaiapoi Civic Centre. Opened by Mayor David Ayers on the 17th of January 2015. Architects: Warren and Mahoney".
A photograph of Ruataniwha, the new Kaiapoi Library and Civic Centre on the corner of Williams Street and Raven Quay in Kaiapoi.
A photograph of Ruataniwha, the new Kaiapoi Library and Civic Centre on the corner of Williams Street and Raven Quay in Kaiapoi.
Seismic retrofitting of unreinforced masonry buildings using posttensioning has been the topic of many recent experimental research projects. However, the performance of such retrofit designs in actual design level earthquakes has previously been poorly documented. In 1984 two stone masonry buildings within The Arts Centre of Christchurch received posttensioned seismic retrofits, which were subsequently subjected to design level seismic loads during the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence. These 26 year old retrofits were part of a global scheme to strengthen and secure the historic building complex and were subject to considerable budgetary constraints. Given the limited resources available at the time of construction and the current degraded state of the steel posttension tendons, the posttensioned retrofits performed well in preventing major damage to the overall structure of the two buildings in the Canterbury earthquakes. When compared to other similar unretrofitted structures within The Arts Centre, it is demonstrated that the posttensioning significantly improved the in-plane and out-of-plane wall strength and the ability to limit residual wall displacements. The history of The Arts Centre buildings and the details of the Canterbury earthquakes is discussed, followed by examination of the performance of the posttension retrofits and the suitability of this technique for future retrofitting of other historic unreinforced masonry buildings. http://www.aees.org.au/downloads/conference-papers/