The new Gisborne Police Station building was built on a soft site occupied by a historical retail building. The façade of the historical building had to be retained, and the building demolished. Based on complex geotechnical investigations and consideration of various foundation options, Opus recommended that a piled…
In this paper, the properties of undisturbed Auckland residual soil are related to visualisation of the void structure obtained by X-ray CT scanning. The soil investigated was derived from in situ weathering of the Waitemata group sandstones and siltstones, a process which produces soil with surprisingly…
The manner in which the results of oedometer tests are normally presented and used for determining stiffness parameters is examined. The basis for using a logarithmic scale for pressure is examined and shown to be of limited relevance to many soils. It is suggested that…
This paper presents an application of a bubble model (a non-linear multi-surface kinematic hardening soil model), implemented in the FLAC software, to simulate the stress-strain behaviour measured in an undrained triaxial compression of Auckland residual clay. The workings of the model are explained in a qualitative…
The purpose of this paper is to present results of field testing to evaluate the lateral capacity of timber poles embedded in Auckland residual clay. The work was undertaken because the commonly used relation by Broms seems to predict lateral capacities for embedded poles used in construction of…
A technique frequently used by structural engineers for indicating ultimate limit state mechanisms in complex structures is known as pushover analysis. This is done with structural analysis software which is able to model not only elastic behaviour of structural elements but also nonlinear stiffness and failure of…
The effect of pile shaft diameter and soil Young’s modulus distribution with depth on unrestrained pile head lateral and rotational stiffnesses of long piles is considered. Analysis of field test data for lateral load tests on piles of different diameters at particular sites had lead…
A model was developed to represent single piles embedded in cohesive soil deposits using the Ruaumoko analysis program, utilizing the available capabilities and modifications of existing elements. The non-linearity of both the soil and the pile was able to be represented within the model in order…
This paper presents the development and response of a Ruaumoko model for the representation of uplift and reattachment of a shallow foundation. The vertical load in the foundation is used to control the characteristics of moment and shear loads, as these values must reduce to zero when…
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the provisions of the New Zealand structural design actions standard (NZS 1170.5 (2004)) with respect to classical elastic soil-structure interaction effects on the earthquake design of shallow foundations supporting multi-storey buildings. Work by earlier researchers had led to the suggestion…