Earthquake research aims to put the building’s design on a more solid footing

Felipe Concar presents his work at the QuakeCoRE Annual Meeting. Photo: Supplied/Shar Hayes

University of Canterbury researchers investigating the impact of earthquakes on different types of soil hope their findings will lay the foundation for better buildings.

Principal researcher Felipe Concar, PhD candidate, said his team of ten was using data from Christchurch’s network of 20 powerful motion sensors (accelerometers) to analyze local seismic activity and feed the data back into a ground motion simulation model.

In the next few months, the researchers plan to expand their analysis to more than 50 of these tools across New Zealand.

Conkar said the group is working with other researchers internationally and hopes their method can be used to improve the seismic resilience of buildings around the world.

“If we want engineers to use this modeling technology, they have to trust it. Simulations are very complex, so an important step is to validate computer simulations with real-world observations.”

He said that many Cantabrians have witnessed first-hand how homes and buildings on softer soil were more affected by earthquakes than in areas near the airport, where ground conditions were more stable.

Local site shaking effects – This graph reflects how ground shaking can have different effects, depending on the surface. Photo: Supplied/Toka Tū Ake EQC

In Wellington, after the Kaikoura earthquake, buildings on softer ground, such as those near the port, sustained more damage than those on firmer ground.

“Soil is a softer material than the rock beneath it, and as a result it tends to amplify the vibration of the ground. We can compare that to a plate of jelly. If you shake a plate of jelly, the motion is more intense at the top of the jelly than it is placed on the plate itself,” Conkar said.

“Soil has a huge impact on how we feel the ground shake during an earthquake. The building code currently includes soil, but only in a simplified way. We hope to improve this practice, and we believe that this simulation will be the future of earthquake flexible design.”

The project is being co-funded by Toka Tū Ake EQC, which devotes approximately $20 million annually to natural hazard risk and engineering-related research each year.

Soil modeling was the “next frontier for seismic hazard analysis,” said lead researcher Dr. Natalie Balvo.

“We know that different soils respond differently to earthquakes. It’s really exciting to build this understanding around ground shaking at such a local level, it means we can plan and build smarter and prepare better.”

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