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Images, eqnz.chch.2010

This building at the corner of Barbadoes Street / St Asaph Street was so badly damaged in the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck Christchurch on Saturday 4 September 2010 that it had to be demolished

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Christchurch and Canterbury suffered significant housing losses due to the earthquakes. Estimates from the Earthquake Commission (EQC) (2011) suggest that over 150,000 homes (around three quarters of Christchurch housing stock) sustained damage from the earthquakes. Some areas of Christchurch have been declared not suitable for rebuilding, affecting more than 7,500 residential properties.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Rapid, reliable information on earthquake-affected structures' current damage/health conditions and predicting what would happen to these structures under future seismic events play a vital role in accelerating post-event evaluations, leading to optimized on-time decisions. Such rapid and informative post-event evaluations are crucial for earthquake-prone areas, where each earthquake can potentially trigger a series of significant aftershocks, endangering the community's health and wealth by further damaging the already-affected structures. Such reliable post-earthquake evaluations can provide information to decide whether an affected structure is safe to stay in operation, thus saving many lives. Furthermore, they can lead to more optimal recovery plans, thus saving costs and time. The inherent deficiency of visual-based post-earthquake evaluations and the importance of structural health monitoring (SHM) methods and SHM instrumentation have been highlighted within this thesis, using two earthquake-affected structures in New Zealand: 1) the Canterbury Television (CTV) building, Christchurch; 2) the Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) building, Wellington. For the first time, this thesis verifies the theoretically- and experimentally validated hysteresis loop analysis (HLA) SHM method for the real-world instrumented structure of the BNZ building, which was damaged severely due to three earthquakes. Results indicate the HLA-SHM method can accurately estimate elastic stiffness degradation for this reinforced concrete (RC) pinched structure across the three earthquakes, which remained unseen until after the third seismic event. Furthermore, the HLA results help investigate the pinching effects on the BNZ building's seismic response. This thesis introduces a novel digital clone modelling method based on the robust and accurate SHM results delivered by the HLA method for physical parameters of the monitored structure and basis functions predicting the changes of these physical parameters due to future earthquake excitations. Contrary to artificial intelligence (AI) based predictive methods with black-box designs, the proposed predictive method is entirely mechanics-based with an explicitly-understandable design, making them more trusted and explicable to stakeholders engaging in post-earthquake evaluations, such as building owners and insurance firms. The proposed digital clone modelling framework is validated using the BNZ building and an experimental RC test structure damaged severely due to three successive shake-table excitations. In both structures, structural damage intensifies the pinching effects in hysteresis responses. Results show the basis functions identified from the HLA-SHM results for both structures under Event 1 can online estimate structural damage due to subsequent Events 2-3 from the measured structural responses, making them valuable tool for rapid warning systems. Moreover, the digital twins derived for these two structures under Event 1 can successfully predict structural responses and damage under Events 2-3, which can be integrated with the incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) method to assess structural collapse and its financial risks. Furthermore, it enables multi-step IDA to evaluate earthquake series' impacts on structures. Overall, this thesis develops an efficient method for providing reliable information on earthquake-affected structures' current and future status during or immediately after an earthquake, considerably guaranteeing safety. Significant validation is implemented against both experimental and real data of RC structures, which thus clearly indicate the accurate predictive performance of this HLA-based method.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Broken panelling on a building on Colombo Street has exposed the interior of the walls. The photographer comments, "Seen in the Christchurch Earthquake Red Zone. If you saw this anywhere else in the world you would have thought that it was a piece of modern art".

Images, UC QuakeStudies

The roof of this collapsed building on Atlas Lane has fallen almost intact on top of the rubble. The photographer comments, "Whenever I go past this place it reminds me of a sinking ship".

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Broken windows on Leicester House. Broken filing cabinets and other fittings lie on the ground in front of the building. The photographer comments, "As you can see the game did not last very long".

Images, eqnz.chch.2010

Damage to the Hotel Grand Chancellor can be seen in the middle. At the bottom left is the lift shaft (now fully demolished) of the CTV building which claimed over 100 lives when it collapsed in the earthquake. Taken during a scenic flight over Christchurch, New Zealand, 3 months after the deadly earthquake of 22 February, 2011. Much of the inn...

Images, UC QuakeStudies

The damaged Cranmer Centre on the corner of Montreal and Armagh Streets shortly after the 22 February 2011 earthquake. The east wall of the building has crumbled onto the street and a man in a hard hat and high-visibility vest is directing people around it. There is scaffolding on the south side of the building from repair works after the 4 September 2010 earthquake. The gable in the background has also collapsed.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team examining an earthquake-damaged building on Acton Street. The closest section of the outer wall has collapsed, and the bricks and other rubble have fallen onto the pavement in front. A boat which was being stored inside has toppled over and is now sticking out of the building.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team examining an earthquake-damaged building on Acton Street. The closest section of the outer wall has collapsed, and the bricks and other rubble have fallen onto the pavement in front. A boat which was being stored inside has toppled over and is now sticking out of the building.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

The north-west end of the Arts Centre on the corner of Rolleston Avenue and Worcester Boulevard. The tip of the gable is missing as well as the spire which has been removed and braced on the footpath to limit damage. Wire fencing and road cones have been placed around the building as a cordon. In the distance, a crane is working on the building.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of the earthquake damage to the Observatory tower at the Christchurch Arts Centre. The top two storeys of the tower collapsed during the 22 February 2011 earthquake and the rubble spilled into the courtyard in front. A digger was used to clear the rubble away from the building. A tarpaulin has been draped over the top of the tower and the roof of the building behind.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of the earthquake-damaged buildings and rubble on Colombo Street near the intersection of St Asaph Street. The walls of the top storey of the buildings to the left have crumbled, and bricks and other rubble have fallen onto the footpath and road below. Wire fencing and police tape have been placed across the street as a cordon.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team examining an earthquake-damaged building on Acton Street. The closest section of the outer wall has collapsed, and the bricks and other rubble have fallen onto the pavement in front. A boat which was being stored inside has toppled over and is now sticking out of the building.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of members of the Wellington Emergency Management Office Emergency Response Team examining an earthquake-damaged building on Acton Street. The closest section of the outer wall has collapsed, and the bricks and other rubble have fallen onto the pavement in front. A boat which was being stored inside has toppled over and is now sticking out of the building.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of the earthquake damage to the Carlton Hotel on the corner of Bealey Avenue and Papanui Road. The walls along the western side of the building have crumbled, bricks spilling onto the footpath. Scaffolding and steel bracing has been erected up the side. Wire fencing has been placed around the building as a cordon. In the foreground, road cones line the street.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of the earthquake-damage to St Paul's-Trinity-Pacific Church on Cashel Street. A large section of the left side of the building has collapsed and the rubble has scattered onto the footpath and street below. Scaffolding constructed up the left side has also collapsed. USAR codes have been spray-painted on the wall in front of the building.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of the earthquake damage to Munn's the Man store on Armagh Street. The outer wall of the top storey has collapsed, the bricks and other rubble spilling onto the car park below. Wire fences placed around the building have toppled over. Steel bracing has been set up inside the building to hold the roof up.