Heathcote Valley school strong motion station (HVSC) consistently recorded ground motions with higher intensities than nearby stations during the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes. For example, as shown in Figure 1, for the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, peak ground acceleration at HVSC reached 1.4 g (horizontal) and 2 g (vertical), the largest ever recorded in New Zealand. Strong amplification of ground motions is expected at Heathcote Valley due to: 1) the high impedance contrast at the soil-rock interface, and 2) the interference of incident and surface waves within the valley. However, both conventional empirical ground motion prediction equations (GMPE) and the physics-based large scale ground motions simulations (with empirical site response) are ineffective in predicting such amplification due to their respective inherent limitations.
An entry from Deborah Fitchett's blog for 18 March 2011, posted to Dreamwidth. The entry is titled, "In which she turns red for Canterbury".The entry was downloaded on 17 April 2015.
An entry from Deborah Fitchett's blog for 18 March 2011, posted to Livejournal. The entry is titled, "In which she turns red for Canterbury".The entry was downloaded on 14 April 2015.
A photograph of the Observatory tower at the Christchurch Arts Centre, taken before the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes.
The operation of telecommunication networks is critical during business as usual times, and becomes most vital in post-disaster scenarios, when the services are most needed for restoring other critical lifelines, due to inherent interdependencies, and for supporting emergency and relief management tasks. In spite of the recognized critical importance, the assessment of the seismic performance for the telecommunication infrastructure appears to be underrepresented in the literature. The FP6 QuakeCoRE project “Performance of the Telecommunication Network during the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence” will provide a critical contribution to bridge this gap. Thanks to an unprecedented collaboration between national and international researchers and highly experienced asset managers from Chorus, data and evidences on the physical and functional performance of the telecommunication network after the Canterbury Earthquakes 2010-2011 have been collected and collated. The data will be processed and interpreted aiming to reveal fragilities and resilience of the telecommunication networks to seismic events
A crack in a wall of the University of Canterbury Electronic Learning Media team's offices.
This poster discusses several possible approaches by which the nonlinear response of surficial soils can be explicitly modelled in physics-based ground motion simulations, focusing on the relative advantages and limitations of the various methodologies. These methods include fully-coupled 3D simulation models that directly allow soil nonlinearity in surficial soils, the domain reduction method for decomposing the physical domain into multiple subdomains for separate simulation, conventional site response analysis uncoupled from the simulations, and finally, the use of simple empirically based site amplification factors We provide the methodology for an ongoing study to explicitly incorporate soil nonlinearity into hybrid broadband simulations of the 2010-2011 Canterbury, New Zealand earthquakes.
A member of the University of Canterbury's Civil Defence team escorts staff to retrieve essential items from their offices.
Members of the University of Canterbury's Digital Media Group in their temporary office in the NZi3 Building.
Members of the University of Canterbury's E-Learning team in their temporary office in the NZi3 building.
University of Canterbury library staff in their temporary office in the NZi3 building. The photographer comments, "University of Canterbury administration all fits into one building! Library IT department staff".
A photograph of a bolt from the Townsend Telescope. The bolt sheared during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A member of the University of Canterbury's Digital Media Group in their temporary office in the NZi3 Building.
Liquefaction-induced lateral spreading during earthquakes poses a significant hazard to the built environment, as observed in Christchurch during the 2010 to 2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES). It is critical that geotechnical earthquake engineers are able to adequately predict both the spatial extent of lateral spreads and magnitudes of associated ground movements for design purposes. Published empirical and semi-empirical models for predicting lateral spread displacements have been shown to vary by a factor of <0.5 to >2 from those measured in parts of Christchurch during CES. Comprehensive post- CES lateral spreading studies have clearly indicated that the spatial distribution of the horizontal displacements and extent of lateral spreading along the Avon River in eastern Christchurch were strongly influenced by geologic, stratigraphic and topographic features.
In 2010 and 2011 a series of earthquakes hit the central region of Canterbury, New Zealand, triggering widespread and damaging liquefaction in the area of Christchurch. Liquefaction occurred in natural clean sand deposits, but also in silty (fines-containing) sand deposits of fluvial origin. Comprehensive research efforts have been subsequently undertaken to identify key factors that influenced liquefaction triggering and severity of its manifestation. This research aims at evaluating the effects of fines content, fabric and layered structure on the cyclic undrained response of silty soils from Christchurch using Direct Simple Shear (DSS) tests. This poster outlines preliminary calibration and verification DSS tests performed on a clean sand to ensure reliability of testing procedures before these are applied to Christchurch soils.
University of Canterbury IT staff in their temporary office in the NZi3 building. The photographer comments, "University of Canterbury administration all fits into one building! Well, sort of. IT support and phones".
A pathway through trees on the University of Canterbury campus, beside the Avon River. The photographer comments, "Path by the river, University Drive".
A photograph of some of the parts of the Townsend Telescope. Many of the parts were damaged during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of the governor from the Townsend Telescope. The left weight broke off during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of the focus assembly from the Townsend Telescope. The assembly was damaged during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of a wooden knob from the Townsend Telescope. The knob broke off the telescope during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A crack in a wall of the University of Canterbury Electronic Learning Media team's offices. The photographer comments, "Cracks in walls".
A photograph of a crack in between the stairway and a column of the Physics Building at the Canterbury Arts Centre. The crack formed during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of the knurled knob from the Townsend Telescope. The teeth of the knob were damaged during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of a collar from the Townsend Telescope. Part of the collar was bent out of shape during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of the object end of the finderscope from the Townsend Telescope. The finderscope was damaged during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of the object end of the finderscope from the Townsend Telescope. The finderscope was damaged during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
University of Canterbury IT staff in their temporary office in the NZi3 building. The photographer comments, "University of Canterbury administration all fits into one building! Well, sort of. A rather truncated IT help desk".
University of Canterbury staff members prepare to be escorted to their buildings by Civil Defence members in order to retrieve essential items from their offices.
A photograph of the lower end of the main tube of the Townsend Telescope. The tube was crushed and bent during the 22 February 2011 earthquake.