Future Christchurch Lecture Photograph 5

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of a Master of Architecture student from the University of Auckland giving a presentation at a Future Christchurch lecture series. The event was part of FESTA 2012.

Future Christchurch Lecture Photograph 2

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of a Master of Architecture student from the University of Auckland giving a presentation at a Future Christchurch lecture series. The event was part of FESTA 2012.

Future Christchurch Lecture Photograph 1

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of a Master of Architecture student from the University of Auckland giving a presentation at a Future Christchurch lecture series. The event was part of FESTA 2012.

Future Christchurch Lecture Photograph 4

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of a Master of Architecture student from the University of Auckland giving a presentation at a Future Christchurch lecture series. The event was part of FESTA 2012.

Future Christchurch Lecture Photograph 3

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of a Master of Architecture student from the University of Auckland giving a presentation at a Future Christchurch lecture series. The event was part of FESTA 2012.

Photograph by Paul Corliss 1823

Images, UC QuakeStudies

A photograph of a sign questioning the future of Christchurch. The photograph is captioned by Paul Corliss, "Corner of Kilmore and Barbadoes Streets. Gap Filler books in fridge".

Seismic performance of a six storey reinforced masonry building during the…

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.