RAPID: 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

该快速研究响应（RAPID）奖的目的是收集2010年9月至2011年新西兰坎特伯雷强震和余震序列期间基础隔离的基督城妇女医院地震响应的易腐数据。 2011年发生更多强余震的可能性相对较高，这为获取现代隔震结构性能的高保真数据提供了一个独特的机会。 该项目涉及杜克大学和坎特伯雷大学的研究人员之间的合作。 项目团队将前往基督城，使用从乔治E号租借的加速计、位移传感器和数据记录仪，对隔离厨房和基督城妇女医院的顶层进行临时仪表测试。小布朗位于洛杉矶的加州大学地震工程模拟网络（NEES）设施。 该仪器能够实现对建筑物响应测量的近实时观察。 余震反应将在几个月内自动记录，环境振动将定期记录。 这些记录将用于评估该隔震结构的行为和建立数学模型，包括土壤-基础-结构相互作用效应和结构间耦合效应。了解基础隔震建筑物中的土-基础-结构相互作用和耦合结构相互作用，是提高认识和未来实施这种减轻地震灾害的方法所必需的。 2010年9月4日和2011年2月22日新西兰地震后对隔震器的目视检查以及这些事件期间医院内感觉到的运动的第一人称描述表明，隔震系统的变形小于当地地面运动记录的预期。 该结构对强余震的高保真响应测量将提供评估该结构和许多类似基础隔震结构中起作用的机制所需的基本定量信息。 因此，未来将基础隔震作为一种减震策略的实施将受益于从检查现代基础隔震设施对强地面运动的响应性能中获得的知识。 美国和新西兰的研究人员在该项目中的合作将推动隔震技术在国际上的发展。 从这个项目中产生的知识将被用来说明土壤基础结构的相互作用的影响，在一个互动的基于网络的教育工具，并将为本科生的研究提供机会。

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. Understanding soil-foundation-structure interactions and coupled-structure interactions in base-isolated buildings is needed for advancing knowledge and future implementation of this method of seismic hazard mitigation. Visual inspection of the seismic isolators following the New Zealand earthquakes of 4 September 2010 and 22 February 2011, and the first-person accounts of motions felt within the hospital during these events, indicate that the isolation system deformed less than may have been expected given local ground motion records. High-fidelity response measurements of this structure to strong aftershocks will provide the basic quantitative information required to assess the mechanisms at play in this and many similar base-isolated structures. Future implementation of base isolation as a seismic mitigation strategy will therefore benefit from the knowledge gained from examining the performance of a modern base-isolated facility responding to strong ground motions. Collaboration among researchers in the United States and New Zealand in this project will advance the development of seismic isolation internationally. Knowledge generated from this project will be used to illustrate soil-foundation-structure interaction effects in an interactive web-based educational tool, and will provide opportunities for undergraduate research.