RAPID/Collaborative Research: Investigation of the Effects of Rockfall Impacts on Structures During the Christchurch Earthquake Series

该奖项资助美国和新西兰的合作研究，该研究将调查地震引起的落石对住宅和小型商业建筑的影响。 2010-2011年新西兰坎特伯雷地震序列包括在基督城大都市地区产生高水平地面震动的四次大地震。 这些地震引发了数以千计的落石，影响了数百座建筑物，造成了人员和资本损失。 然而，这些落石对建筑物的影响差异很大。 在某些情况下，巨石陷入建筑物的结构系统，造成损害，但保护生命安全。 在其他情况下，巨石完全穿透建筑系统，造成结构倒塌。 虽然落石与建筑物系统的相互作用在概念上可以理解为冲击能量和结构能力的函数，但仍然不清楚这些因素如何控制建筑物对这些冲击的抵抗力。 工程文献中几乎没有这方面的信息。 这项工作将是第一个广泛的，有据可查的研究主题，并将立即使用的工程师在世界各地的落石是一个潜在的威胁。 为此，本研究旨在获取，处理和存档有关的一系列常见的住宅和商业结构的落石的影响数据。 这项研究将通过地理参考，3D，地面激光雷达扫描和运动结构（SfM）摄影采集在大约30个受损建筑物完成。 除了高细节的文件，由此产生的数据库将提供大量的高质量的案例历史的落石结构相互作用。 这项工作的目的还在于确定的因素，通过一个初步的一系列耦合的跳动/结构的影响模型模拟落石过程中的各种常见结构的弹性。 该项目包括一系列更广泛的影响，其中最显著的包括制定关于建设系统抵御落石能力的初步准则。 这些指导方针将对世界各地的建筑规范产生重要影响，并将立即为基督城的当地重建和恢复工作提供信息。这项工作将与新西兰GNS Science的研究人员密切合作。

This award funds collaborative U.S. - New Zealand research that will investigate the effects of earthquake-induced rockfalls on residential and small commercial structures. The 2010-2011 Canterbury, New Zealand Earthquake Sequence included four major earthquakes that produced high levels of ground shaking in the Christchurch metropolitan region. These earthquakes triggered thousands of rockfalls, which impacted several hundred buildings and resulted in both human and capital losses. However, the impact of these rockfalls on structures varied widely. In some instances boulders became enmeshed within a building's structural system, causing damage but preserving life-safety. In other situations boulders fully penetrated building systems and caused structural collapse. While a rockfall's interaction with a building system may be conceptually understood to be a function of both impact energy and structural capacity, it still remains unclear exactly how these factors govern a building's resistance to these impacts. There is virtually no information on this in the engineering literature. This work will be the first extensive, well-documented study of the subject and will be of immediate use to engineers in all parts of the world where rockfalls are a potential threat. To this end, this research seeks to acquire, process, and archive data pertaining to the impact of rockfalls on a series of common residential and commercial structures. This study will be accomplished through geo-referenced, 3D, ground-based LIDAR scans and Structure from Motion (SfM) photographic acquisition at approximately 30 damaged buildings. In addition to documentation at high detail, the resulting database will provide a substantial increase in the number of high-quality case histories of rockfall-structure interaction. This work additionally aims to identify the factors that govern the resilience of a wide range of common structures through a preliminary series of coupled runout/structural impact model simulations of the rockfall process. The project includes a range of broader impacts including most notably development of preliminary guidelines on building system resilience to rockfalls. These guidelines will have important implications for building codes worldwide and more immediately will serve to inform local rebuilding and recovery efforts in Christchurch. The work will be done in close cooperation with researchers from GNS Science, New Zealand.