Audio of Vilma Loader's earthquake story, captured by Bettina Evans as part of the Shaken Hearts project.
Research following the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes investigated the minimum vertical reinforcement required in RC walls to generate well distributed cracking in the plastic hinge region. However, the influence of the loading sequence and rate has not been fully addressed. The new minimum vertical reinforcement limits in NZS 3101:2006 (Amendment 3) include consideration of the material strengths under dynamic load rates, but these provisions have not been validated at a member or system level. A series of tests were conducted on RC prisms to investigate the effect of loading rate and sequence on the local behaviour of RC members. Fifteen axially loaded RC prisms with the designs representing the end region of RC walls were tested under various loading rates to cover the range of pseudo-static and earthquake loading scenarios. These tests will provide substantial data for understanding the local behaviour of RC members, including hysteretic load-deformation behaviour, crack patterns, failure mode, steel strain, strain rate and ductility. Recommendations will be made regarding the effect of loading rate and reinforcement content on the cracking behaviour and ductility of RC members.
Workers using a digger and a front end loader to clear liquefaction from a road in Shirley. A deep puddle of water is visible at the bottom of the photograph.
A digger loading demolition rubble into a truck.
A digger loading demolition rubble into a truck on Oxford Terrace.
A photograph of a truck tipping to deposit a load of rubble.
A photograph of a truck tipping to deposit a load of rubble.
A photograph of a truck tipping to deposit a load of rubble.
A photograph of a front-end loader on Bower Avenue in New Brighton.
A digger loading building material from Avonmore House onto a truck to be recycled.
A digger loading building material from Avonmore House onto a truck to be recycled.
A photograph of a front-end loader driving down Bower Avenue in New Brighton.
A digger loads the final remains of an old wooden house in Christchurch into a truck.
Members of the Navy loading crates of bread and plastic cups onto a truck in Lyttelton Harbour.
A loader scraping liquefaction silt into a large pile in the car park of the Ferrymead Veterinary Clinic.
A loader scraping liquefaction silt into a large pile in the car park of the Ferrymead Veterinary Clinic.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "An excavator loading rubble from the demolished Strategy building into a truck".
A photograph of a member of the Royal New Zealand Air Force loading a helicopter at Hagley Park.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "An excavator loading rubble from the demolished Strategy building into a truck".
A photograph of an excavator loading demolition rubble onto a truck. The photograph is captioned by Paul Corliss, "TUC demolition".
A photograph of an excavator loading demolition rubble onto a truck. The photograph is captioned by Paul Corliss, "TUC demolition".
A photograph of an excavator loading demolition rubble onto a truck. The photograph is captioned by Paul Corliss, "TUC demolition".
There is very little research on total house strength that includes contributions of non-structural elements. This testing programme provides inclusive stiffness and response data for five houses of varying ages. These light timber framed houses in Christchurch, New Zealand had minor earthquake damage from the 2011 earthquakes and were lateral load tested on site to determine their strength and/or stiffness, and to identify damage thresholds. Dynamic characteristics including natural periods, which ranged from 0.14 to 0.29s were also investigated. Two houses were quasi-statically loaded up to approximately 130kN above the foundation in one direction. Another unidirectional test was undertaken on a slab-on-grade two-storey house, which was also snapback tested. Two other houses were tested using cyclic quasi-static loading, and between cycles snapback tests were undertaken to identify the natural period of each house, including foundation and damage effects. A more detailed dynamic analysis on one of the houses provided important information on seismic safety levels of post-quake houses with respect to different hazard levels in the Christchurch area. While compared to New Zealand Building Standards all tested houses had an excess of strength, damage is a significant consideration in earthquake resilience and was observed in all of the houses. http://www.aees.org.au/downloads/conference-papers/2015-2/
Members of the Army and the Navy loading crates of bread and plastic cups onto a truck in Lyttelton Harbour.
A Christchurch resident loading shovels and a wheelbarrow into the boot of her car after using them to clear liquefaction.
Christchurch residents loading furniture into a trailer and the boot of a car. Liquefaction has been piled up outside their house.
Photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "The final act of clearing the Cashmere Anglican Church, loading the digger onto the transporter".
NZ Army Chefs loading hot-box meals onto a truck for delivery to emergency service workers helping with the Christchurch Earthquake operation.
NZ Army Chefs loading hot-box meals onto a truck for delivery to emergency service workers helping with the Christchurch Earthquake operation.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Loading the remains of 107 Manchester Street into a demolition truck. The water is to keep the dust down.".