The Earthquake Commission (EQC) has, for a long time, been an important investor in high quality research in New Zealand. EQC’s research programme spans science, engineering and social science and has played a vital role in supporting New Zealand’s improved resilience to natural hazards. Through…
Abstract Liquefaction has been reported following upwards of 13 recent and historical earthquakes in New Zealand. Collating reports outlining the extents of liquefaction manifestation following these events provides insights into the distributions of sediments with low cyclic resistances to liquefaction, and enables liquefaction hazard assessments…
Abstract Pumice materials, which are problematic from an engineering viewpoint, are widespread in many parts of the North Island. Following the 2010-2011 Christchurch earthquakes, a clear understanding of their properties under earthquake loading is necessary. For example, the 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake showed evidence of localised…
Abstract Liquefaction and associated lateral spreading during the 1987 Mw 6.5 Edgecumbe earthquake caused severe damage within parts of the Whakatane township. Liquefaction primarily manifested proximal to the Whakatane River in areas underlain by recent fluvial and marine sediments. The development of ground motion intensity…
Abstract There are few practical methods currently available for liquefaction mitigation beneath existing structures, despite a growing demand for this due to a significant number of structures being targeted for seismic upgrading. One such method that is viable for liquefaction mitigation beneath existing structures is…
This paper describes the development of a new depth weighted assessment methodology, which produces a dimensionless number termed the Liquefaction Severity Number (LSN), to assess vulnerability of land to liquefaction-induced damage. This methodology has been developed by comparing measured attributes from the properties damaged by…
Liquefaction and associated lateral spreading during the 1987 ML 6.3 Edgecumbe earthquake caused severe damage to parts of Whakatane, New Zealand. Recent studies utilizing extensive CPT investigations indicate that much of the Whakatane Central Business District is underlain by sediments with a low cyclic resistance…
The simplified liquefaction evaluation methods reasonably predicted the severity and extent of liquefaction in Christchurch during the 2010-2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence, however there are important cases where moderate-to-severe liquefaction was predicted yet no liquefaction manifestation was observed. These high levels of conservatism have been identified…
Liquefaction assessments are commonly undertaken by geotechnical engineers using a deterministic approach. This approach does not appropriately take into account the significant uncertainties associated with a liquefaction assessment and can potentially compound the conservatism that is introduced when selecting upper bound input parameters. Therefore, the…
Lateral spreading occurred proximal to waterways during the 2010 to 2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES) resulting in severe damage to overlying infrastructure. Published empirical and semi-empirical models for predicting lateral spread displacements have been shown produce displacement that varied by a factor of <0.5 to…
