Search

found 210 results

Articles, UC QuakeStudies

A digital photograph in a PDF format with caption. Image showing one of the spectators on the Avondale bridge, a few minutes before the 2012 Earthquake Memorial, looking North-East.

Articles, UC QuakeStudies

A digital photograph in PDF format with caption, looking North East down Liggins street, where it intersects with Jean Batten St. An empty Red Zoned lot is also on the corner.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph looking east down Gloucester Street, towards the intersection of Manchester Street. On-lookers are surveying earthquake damage from behind the cordon. The Christchurch City Council parking building can be seen in the distance.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph looking south-east across Gloucester Street, taken from the Cambridge Terrace intersection. The road has been cordoned off ahead, and many excavators and cranes can be seen in the distance. A soldier is guarding the cordon.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph looking east down Gloucester Street, taken from the Cambridge Terrace intersection. The road has been cordoned off ahead, and many excavators and cranes can be seen in the distance. A soldier is guarding the cordon.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph looking east down Armagh Street from the Provincial Chambers Buildings. In the distance, the Victoria Apartments, Forsyth Barr, and PricewaterhouseCoopers buildings can be seen, as well as two cordon fences and a crane.

Research papers, The University of Auckland Library

During the Christchurch earthquake of February 2011, several midrise buildings of Reinforced Concrete Masonry (RCM) construction achieved performance levels in the range of life safety to near collapse levels. These buildings were subjected to seismic demands higher than the building code requirements of the time and higher than the current New Zealand Loadings Standard (NZS-1170.5:2004). Structural damage to these buildings has been documented and is currently being studied to establish lessons to be learned from their performance and how to incorporate these lessons into future RCM design and construction practices. This paper presents a case study of a six story RCM building deemed to have reached the near collapse performance level. The RCM walls on the 2nd floor failed due to toe crushing reducing the building’s lateral resistance in the east-west direction. A nonlinear dynamic analysis on a 3D model was conducted to simulate the development of the governing failure mechanism. Preliminary analysis results show that the damaged walls were initially under large compression forces from gravity loads which caused increase in their lateral strength and reduced their ductility. After toe crushing failure developed, axial instability of the model was prevented by a redistribution of gravity loads.