New Zealand was one of the first countries to implement base isolation with the construction of the South Rangitikei Rail Bridge in the central North Island (1976), followed soon afterwards by the Clayton Building in Wellington (1981).
However, applications have not grown as rapidly as in other countries for reasons that include lack of understanding of the principles and benefits, a lack of analytical modeling skills, and a lack of confidence in the hardware.
This seminar is intended to address all three concerns. Topics covered include:
- Conventional seismic design of concrete structures: ensuring structural capacity exceeds seismic demand and accepting damage (plastic deformation)
- Base isolation of concrete structures: ensuring seismic demand is less than structural capacity and assuring essentially elastic (damage-free) behavior; an alternative to conventional design
- History of base isolation
- Basic requirements of an isolation system for buildings/bridges/industrial plant
- Typical base isolation hardware (elastomeric and friction devices)
- Applications of base isolation systems in New Zealand and worldwide
- Simplified design procedure of a base isolation system for given performance criteria
- Design of isolation hardware to meet system requirements
- Specifying isolation hardware
- Code requirements for quality assurance
At the end of this seminar attendees will be able to determine the properties of a base isolation system to meet a required level of seismic performance and make a first cut at the design of corresponding isolation hardware.
SEMINAR DATES
- Christchurch; Tuesday 19 March 2013
- Wellington; Wednesday 20 March 2013
- Auckland; Thursday 21 March 2013
Seminar brochure and registration form [download pdf]