1 Introduction This letter describes the development of a document intended to define the minimum technical capabilities that a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng) (Geotechnical) is expected to have in order to competently investigate, design and supervise the construction of geotechnical works in New Zealand. This…
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Figure 1: a) and b) Incision of the valley induces a progressive rotation of principal stress axes (σ1, σ3); c) once accumulated stress concentrated at the base of the slope exceeds the strength of the anisotropic rock, toe buckling deformation develops in the form of…
Liquefaction and associated lateral spreading during the 1987 ML 6.3 Edgecumbe earthquake caused severe damage to parts of Whakatane, New Zealand. Recent studies utilizing extensive CPT investigations indicate that much of the Whakatane Central Business District is underlain by sediments with a low cyclic resistance…
The simplified liquefaction evaluation methods reasonably predicted the severity and extent of liquefaction in Christchurch during the 2010-2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence, however there are important cases where moderate-to-severe liquefaction was predicted yet no liquefaction manifestation was observed. These high levels of conservatism have been identified…
Figure 1: Auckland’s reclamation zones are north of the original 1840’s shoreline (red). Map shows historic bays (light blue), headlands (yellow), paleo-river/stream channels (white arrows showing direction of flow). The surface represents the depth to unweathered ECBF based on subsurface site investigation data and geomorphic…
Gravelly soil (i.e. gravelly sands, sandy gravels, and uniform gravels) is generally recognized to have no or very low liquefaction potential. However, historically few case histories exist where observations of liquefied gravelly soils have been made, e.g. 1983 Borah Peak, Idaho earthquake (Youd et al….
Liquefaction assessments are commonly undertaken by geotechnical engineers using a deterministic approach. This approach does not appropriately take into account the significant uncertainties associated with a liquefaction assessment and can potentially compound the conservatism that is introduced when selecting upper bound input parameters. Therefore, the…
Lateral spreading occurred proximal to waterways during the 2010 to 2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence (CES) resulting in severe damage to overlying infrastructure. Published empirical and semi-empirical models for predicting lateral spread displacements have been shown produce displacement that varied by a factor of <0.5 to…
Pumiceous deposits exist in many areas of the North Island, and pose a particular challenge to engineering projects due to the difficulties associated with characterizing these materials. Key characteristics of pumice grains are their high crushability, their low density and the presence of voids, both…
