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

这项快速研究反应（Rapid）奖的目的是收集2010年9月至2011年新西兰坎特伯雷发生的一系列强烈地震和余震期间，与基地隔离的克赖斯特彻奇妇女医院的地震反应数据。2011年发生强余震的可能性相对较高，这为获取有关现代隔震结构性能的高保真数据提供了独特的机会。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。项目团队将前往克赖斯特彻奇，在克赖斯特彻奇妇女医院的隔离厨房和顶层临时安装加速度计、位移传感器和数据记录仪，这些仪器是从加州大学洛杉矶分校的小乔治·e·布朗地震工程模拟网络（NEES）设施借来的。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这种地震隔离结构的行为并建立数学模型，包括土壤-基础-结构相互作用效应和结构间耦合效应。了解基础隔离建筑中土壤-基础-结构相互作用和耦合结构相互作用是提高知识和未来实施这种地震减灾方法的必要条件。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，以及在这些事件中医院内感受到的第一人称描述，表明隔震系统的变形小于根据当地地面运动记录可能预期的变形。该结构对强余震的高保真度响应测量将为评估该结构和许多类似基础隔离结构的作用机制提供所需的基本定量信息。因此，通过研究现代基础隔离设施应对强烈地面运动的性能所获得的知识，将有助于今后将基础隔离作为一种地震缓解战略的实施。美国和新西兰研究人员在这个项目上的合作将推动国际上隔震技术的发展。本计画所产生的知识，将会在互动的网络教育工具中，用来说明土壤-基础-结构的相互作用效应，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.