Collapse modelling of soft storey buildings. Soft storey buildings investigated in this research paper represent a large number of building stock in Australia, such as high density housing apartments and buildings occupied by organisations with a post disaster function such as hospitals and emergency services. The outcomes from the research will be of direct benefit to the insurance industry, owners of building stock, emergency planning organisations, building code committees and policy makers i ....Collapse modelling of soft storey buildings. Soft storey buildings investigated in this research paper represent a large number of building stock in Australia, such as high density housing apartments and buildings occupied by organisations with a post disaster function such as hospitals and emergency services. The outcomes from the research will be of direct benefit to the insurance industry, owners of building stock, emergency planning organisations, building code committees and policy makers involved in risk reduction strategies. Read moreRead less
Displacement Controlled Behaviour of Non-ductile Structural Walls in Regions of Lower Seismicity. Buildings supported by non-ductile structural walls investigated in this research represents the great majority of building stock in Australia, in both the commercial and high-density residential sectors and buildings occupied by organisations with a post-disaster function such as hospitals and emergency services. The outcomes from the research will be of direct benefit to the insurance industry, ow ....Displacement Controlled Behaviour of Non-ductile Structural Walls in Regions of Lower Seismicity. Buildings supported by non-ductile structural walls investigated in this research represents the great majority of building stock in Australia, in both the commercial and high-density residential sectors and buildings occupied by organisations with a post-disaster function such as hospitals and emergency services. The outcomes from the research will be of direct benefit to the insurance industry, owners of building stock, emergency planning organisations, building code committees and policy makers involved in risk reduction strategies.Read moreRead less
Collapse assessment of reinforced concrete buildings in regions of lower seismicity. This research aims to develop a new displacement based (DB) method for regions of lower seismicity, using 'Displacement Controlled' phenomenon, to assess the risk of collapse and seismic performance of buildings. The project will investigate the system behaviour of buildings in Australia that are laterally supported by lightly reinforced concrete geometric walls, including both torsional and wall floor interacti ....Collapse assessment of reinforced concrete buildings in regions of lower seismicity. This research aims to develop a new displacement based (DB) method for regions of lower seismicity, using 'Displacement Controlled' phenomenon, to assess the risk of collapse and seismic performance of buildings. The project will investigate the system behaviour of buildings in Australia that are laterally supported by lightly reinforced concrete geometric walls, including both torsional and wall floor interaction effects. The new DB method could allow buildings in regions of lower seismicity to be designed for robustness, gravity and wind loading and then checked using displacement principles for seismic compliance, which will dramatically simplify and improve the current seismic design process.Read moreRead less
Retrofitted brick masonry buildings - are they reliable over the long term? The aim of this project is to investigate the long-term reliability of a new earthquake strengthening technique for brick buildings. The technique involves the use of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) strips as reinforcement for brick walls and has been shown to give substantial instantaneous strength increases. However, no research has been undertaken to ensure that the improved strength is sustained over the remaining lif ....Retrofitted brick masonry buildings - are they reliable over the long term? The aim of this project is to investigate the long-term reliability of a new earthquake strengthening technique for brick buildings. The technique involves the use of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) strips as reinforcement for brick walls and has been shown to give substantial instantaneous strength increases. However, no research has been undertaken to ensure that the improved strength is sustained over the remaining life of the building. The only related research involves reinforced concrete which suggests that a reduction of at least 33 per cent could be expected. Hence, this project will quantify the long-term strength of FRP reinforced brickwork to enable engineers to safely apply this new cost-effective retrofit technique.Read moreRead less
Seismic performance of precast concrete buildings for lower seismic regions. This project aims to develop a displacement-based method of assessing precast concrete buildings in regions of lower seismicity for risk of collapse and seismic performance. The project will investigate the system behaviour and vulnerability of buildings laterally supported by precast concrete geometric walls, which are currently poorly understood but dominate Australian construction. The modelling produced is expected ....Seismic performance of precast concrete buildings for lower seismic regions. This project aims to develop a displacement-based method of assessing precast concrete buildings in regions of lower seismicity for risk of collapse and seismic performance. The project will investigate the system behaviour and vulnerability of buildings laterally supported by precast concrete geometric walls, which are currently poorly understood but dominate Australian construction. The modelling produced is expected to allow such buildings to be simply checked for seismic compliance using displacement principles, rather than the more complex force based methods with direct benefits for building costs and community safety.Read moreRead less
Improved analysis techniques for seismic assessment of unreinforced masonry buildings with flexible floor/roof diaphragms. A major international collaboration between researchers in Australia, New Zealand and Italy is underway to develop a method for structural engineers to determine which masonry buildings post a significant hazard to the public in the event of an earthquake such as that which struck the city of Christchurch.
Crustal fault system dynamics and earthquake prediction. The greatest challenge in earthquake science is prediction. Yet this possibility remains elusive. However, recent advances using an innovative numerical simulation model provided the first clear evidence for an underlying physical mechanism for earthquake forecasting, and observational studies have recently identified two independent precursors suggesting that this mechanism operates in the crust. The proposed project will use advanced sim ....Crustal fault system dynamics and earthquake prediction. The greatest challenge in earthquake science is prediction. Yet this possibility remains elusive. However, recent advances using an innovative numerical simulation model provided the first clear evidence for an underlying physical mechanism for earthquake forecasting, and observational studies have recently identified two independent precursors suggesting that this mechanism operates in the crust. The proposed project will use advanced simulation models and an innovative, multidisciplinary approach to obtain an improved understanding of crustal fault system dynamics with the aim of resolving the earthquake prediction question and progressing towards the scientific underpinning needed for intermediate-term earthquake forecasting.Read moreRead less
Caught in a vice: Modelling crustal deformation in Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea is trapped between the collision of the Australian and Pacific Plates. This proposal uses GPS methods to measure and model the tectonic motion across Papua New Guinea, identifies and quantifies areas undergoing regional deformation near plate boundaries and within tectonic blocks, and evaluates the tectonic processes associated with such deformation. Numerical models will be developed to match the observed site ....Caught in a vice: Modelling crustal deformation in Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea is trapped between the collision of the Australian and Pacific Plates. This proposal uses GPS methods to measure and model the tectonic motion across Papua New Guinea, identifies and quantifies areas undergoing regional deformation near plate boundaries and within tectonic blocks, and evaluates the tectonic processes associated with such deformation. Numerical models will be developed to match the observed site motions, thereby revealing the nature of the active plate boundaries and the characteristics of the Earth's crust and mantle. The project will produce new results necessary for assessing the tectonic hazards of Papua New Guinea.
Read moreRead less
Safeguarding Australia’s heritage masonry buildings from earthquake attack. The project aims to improve the guidance provided in Australian and New Zealand design codes for the seismic capacity assessment of heritage masonry buildings. The majority of culturally significant heritage buildings in Australia are constructed of unreinforced masonry, and all of these buildings were erected before seismic design guidelines or requirements existed. The risk posed by earthquakes to these important build ....Safeguarding Australia’s heritage masonry buildings from earthquake attack. The project aims to improve the guidance provided in Australian and New Zealand design codes for the seismic capacity assessment of heritage masonry buildings. The majority of culturally significant heritage buildings in Australia are constructed of unreinforced masonry, and all of these buildings were erected before seismic design guidelines or requirements existed. The risk posed by earthquakes to these important buildings is significant – as highlighted by the 2011 Christchurch earthquake where both major cathedrals in the city were heavily damaged. The project aims to develop an analysis and design method that accounts for the material properties and non-typical structural layouts used in heritage stone and clay brick masonry buildings that are most relevant to seismic response.Read moreRead less
From crust to core: probing the heterogeneity of the Earth with seismic arrays. Seismic array deployments will be used for a variety of studies including tomographic mapping of upper mantle structure, coda analysis for crustal properties and delineation of deeper Earth structure. The high resolution information on crustal and upper mantle structure will provide important detail on the building blocks of the Australian plate at depth. This class of information helps to refine our understanding o ....From crust to core: probing the heterogeneity of the Earth with seismic arrays. Seismic array deployments will be used for a variety of studies including tomographic mapping of upper mantle structure, coda analysis for crustal properties and delineation of deeper Earth structure. The high resolution information on crustal and upper mantle structure will provide important detail on the building blocks of the Australian plate at depth. This class of information helps to refine our understanding of the way that the Australian continent has been assembled with regard to the interaction of the crust and mantle and the emplacement of mineral resources.Read moreRead less