Title: Performance of the Base-Isolated Christchurch Women's Hospital during the Sequence of Strong Earthquakes and Aftershocks in New Zealand from September 2010 through 2011 (NEES-2011-1098)

Year Of Curation: 2013

Description: The objective of this Rapid Research Response (RAPID) award is to collect perishable data on the seismic response of the base-isolated Christchurch Women's Hospital during the sequence of strong earthquakes and aftershocks in Canterbury, New Zealand from September 2010 through 2011. The relatively high probability of additional strong aftershocks in 2011 presents a unique opportunity to capture high-fidelity data on the performance of a modern seismically-isolated structure. This project involves collaboration among researchers at Duke University and the University of Canterbury. The project team will travel to Christchurch to temporarily instrument the isolation galley and the top level of the Christchurch Women's Hospital with accelerometers, displacement transducers, and data recorders loaned from the George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) facility at the University of California, Los Angeles. This instrumentation is capable of enabling near real-time observation of the building response measurements. Aftershock responses will be recorded automatically over a period of months and ambient vibrations will be recorded periodically. These records will be used to assess the behavior and to develop mathematical models of this seismically-isolated structure, including soil-foundation-structure interaction effects and the effects of inter-structural coupling.

Award: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1138714

PIs & CoPIs: Henri Gavin

Dates: September 03, 2010 - June 26, 2012

Organizations: Duke University, NC, United States,,University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States,,University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

Facilities: University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Sponsor: NSF - 1138714

Keywords: base isolation,seismic isolation,Christchurch Earthquake,field test,full scale,aftershock

Publications: 

• Henri Gavin (2017), "Performance of the Base-Isolated Christchurch Women's Hospital during the EQs from Sept. 2010-2011 (NEES-2011-1098)," https://datacenterhub.org/deedsdv/publications/view/510.