Title: Deep Shear Wave Velocity Profiling for Seismic Characterization of Christchurch, NZ - Reliably Merging Large Active-Source and Passive-Wavefield Surface Wave Methods (NEES-2012-1173)

Year Of Curation: 2014

Description: In 2010-2011, the city of Christchurch, New Zealand was devastated by a series of powerful earthquakes, the most destructive being the 22 February 2011 Mw6.2 Christchurch Earthquake. During this event, the seismic demands imposed on the built environment at many locations in the city were higher than engineering design levels, causing severe structural damage and collapse, especially within the central business district (CBD). Ultimately, the Christchurch Earthquake resulted in 181 casualties, thousands of injuries, and widespread soil liquefaction that caused billions of dollars in damage to buildings, homes and infrastructure. The entire CBD was cordoned-off following this event and remains closed to the public today (October 2012), while an estimated 1000 structures are being demolished. A network of 19 seismic recording stations in the greater Christchurch area captured an extensive and unique set of ground motions (GM) during the 2010-2011 earthquakes. Potentially, these GM can be used for back-analyses aimed at understanding the spatial variability of the ground shaking (particularly site and basin effects), followed by accurate forward-estimates aimed at quantifying the amplitude and frequency content of future design GM. However, detailed GM analyses cannot presently be conducted because no information exists on the shear wave velocity (Vs) structure of the greater-than-400-m deep interlayered sand and gravel deposits that underlie Christchurch.

Award: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1303595

PIs & CoPIs: Brady Cox

Dates: January 07, 2010 - October 31, 2013

Organizations: University of Texas at Austin, TX, United States

Facilities: University of Texas at Austin, TX, United States

Sponsor: NSF - CMMI - 1303595 

Keywords: Surface wave testing,microtremor,ambient vibration,vibroseis,Christchurch Earthquake

Publications: "Comprehensive Analysis of the UTexas1 Surface Wave Dataset Analyst I"

"Synthesis of the UTexas1 Surface Wave Dataset Blind-Analysis Study"   
 

• Brady Cox (2017), "Deep Shear Wave Velocity Profiling for Seismic Characterization of Christchurch, NZ (NEES-2012-1173)," https://datacenterhub.org/deedsdv/publications/view/471.