Element Warners Plot Redevelopment: Value $14.

t: Value $14.5m, Floor Project Benaud: Value $25m, Floor area 2,500 m2, 166 Moorhouse Avenue Units 5-9 Strengthening: Detailed Structural Assessment of Colombo and Lyttelton Recreation Centre: Value $3m
area 2200m2, CBD Christchurch. Dunedin Value $1.5m, Floor area 3,230 m2, Christchurch Lowrie Halls, Lincoln University

1 Comprehend My BSc degree (2003) is a formally recognised I completed the structural engineering of this multi-unit
and apply Washington Accord Qualification. I have also obtained building, working with a draughtsperson to produce
knowledge of the MSc degree (2007). I have more than 10 years experience construction drawings, and design features report.
accepted in structural engineering including more than 3 years NZ
principles experience. The clients brief was to strengthen the building to
underpinning 80%NBS. The building is founded on a shallow pad
widely applied I completed the structural engineering of this hotel project, footings combined with posthole footings located
good practice in working with a draughtsman to produce a set of typically on either end of the walls. The geotechnical
professional construction drawings. I acted as design engineer for the investigation by Tonkin & Taylor concluded that the site
engineering design of lateral load-resisting system while overseeing a is prone to liquefaction-induced differential settlement
(Washington graduate structural engineer working on designing the expected in the order of 90 mm for an SLS seismic
Accord level gravity load-resisting system. I was responsible for the event, and 90mm differential settlement with total
degree) overall structural engineering of the project including settlement of 225mm in a ULS seismic event.
preparation of construction documentation, overseeing the
graduate engineers work, attending biweekly design team The existing foundation types were assessed as
meetings and liaison with the wider design team etc. inappropriate for liquefiable soils due to their inability to
cater for differential settlement adequately. Either deep
As the ground floor of the building is meant for retail foundation or raft footing would have been a likely
purposes, the client required ground floor to be open plan foundation system had the building been designed
area, leaving no provision for introducing shear walls today.
except for at the perimeter of the building.
Subsequently the client was made aware of the
The architectural demand imposed big openings (40% of significant cost implications of retrofitting the existing
wall area) in the ground floor perimeter shear walls on foundations to 80%NBS. The client was after a practical
three visible-to-public faces of the building, with the fourth and pragmatic strengthening solution. I proposed to
face to have solid walls. Due to this, the building is strengthen the superstructure only but made the client
classified as irregular in terms of stiffness and required aware of the risk of on-going foundation settlement
careful consideration of the wall sizes at the ground floor. which is due to liquefiable soil conditions rather than
It was challenging to come up with lateral load-resisting lack of structural foundation not being adequate for
member sizing during the concept design phase of the strength demand. The Canterbury earthquakes have
project. provided further evidence that on its own, liquefaction is
unlikely to lead to a risk to life in low rise buildings (less
Although NZ code required an analysis method other than than 3 storeys) that are well tied together and are
equivalent static analysis method to analyse the building, therefore likely to maintain their integrity after significant
however, at concept design phase, ESA method, due to its settlement occurs.
simplicity, was considered appropriate to establish the
preliminary wall sizes. Later during the detailed design of
the building, model response spectrum analysis method
was adopted.

The analysis shows that 600 mm thick walls at ground

floor and 200mm thick above will suffice to cater for
stiffness and strength demands.

2 Comprehend The project milestone deliverables (concept design, I was responsible for the detailed structural design of I was responsible for carrying out displacement based Project Description from DFR
and apply detailed design etc.) were set per NZCIC documentation this project along with the help of a graduate structural assessment of the building using original construction
knowledge of the guidelines. engineer. drawings to determine the current building seismic I supervised the structural engineering of the project,
accepted capacity. acted as design verifier, reviewed construction
principles Shear walls (doubly reinforced) were detailed keeping in Up to developed design, the project was handled by drawings, worked with the architect to develop the
underpinning mind the recommendations of SESOC Interim Design other engineer. The Colombo and Lowrie Halls comprised of 6 Halls design of new build (part of the building), worked with
good practice in Guidance (March 2013) in addition to NZS 3101 used for student accommodation, designed in 1966. the draughtsperson to develop structural drawings
professional requirements. The building is located off Anzac Avenue in Dunedin. Each hall consists of 4 storeys and is constructed from while the design engineer was away on extended
The structural form is a lightweight steel frame structure reinforced concrete walls located at the tower perimeter leave.
engineering that
is specific to the Hawkins were chosen as the preferred contractor as part combined with single level precast concrete panel and reinforced concrete block walls internally.
jurisdiction in of the ECI (Early Contractor Involvement). They proposed construction. The building consists of a major brewery
to erect the ground floor shear walls first followed by first and public area with a steep pitched roof structure and Due to the larger plan area required for amenities such
which he
practices (NZ) floor, followed by concrete raft foundation and thereafter a secondary warehouse and utilities area with a low as TV lounge, laundry, kitchen and play room at the
construction of first and second floors. The design is pitch roof. There is no seismic separation between the ground floor, the internal masonry walls are supported
carried out to compliment this construction sequence, thus different areas of the building. on a transfer structure consisting of RC beams at the
incorporating the skill base and capability of the local NZ first floor level, which in turn, are supported on external
construction industry and its practices. Along with design actions taken from the analytical walls. The foundation consists of strip footings
model of the building, additional stability checks on underneath the reinforced concrete walls and block
structural shear walls were made using BRANZ Design walls.
Guide Slender Precast Concrete Panels with Low Axial
Loads, G J Beattie (2007). I adopted Non-Linear Static Pushover Procedure as per
NZSEE Red Book Assessment and Improvement of
For doubly reinforced shear walls, anti-buckling ties to the Structural Performance of Buildings in Earthquakes
the vertical reinforcement were provided as April 2012, along with some specifics taken from
recommended by of SESOC Interim Design Guidance Priestley Book.
(March 2013).
Element Warners Plot Redevelopment: Value $14.5m, Floor
area 2200m2, CBD Christchurch.
3 Define,
investigate and
analyse complex
engineering
problems in
accordance with
good practice for
professional
engineering
4 Design or The original Warners Hotel was a four storey brick building
develop (demolished after Canterbury earthquakes). The client
solutions to wanted to preserve the external look of the building and
complex replicate same sized windows at all levels to the external
engineering elevations of the building.
problems in
accordance with In the new proposed development, due to the ground floor
good practice for being open plan area to be used for retail purposes, there
professional was no scope for a structural system like braced frame or
internal shear walls. Moment frames was considered less
engineering
suitable due to potentially excessive drifts and close
proximity of the building with the Novotel Hotel at north
side.
Due to faade of the building being proposed replica of the
original building, it was considered best to provide faceade
consisting of precast shear walls to also act as lateral load-
resisting system of the building.
Due to large openings at three faces of the building ground
floor walls, the building was classified as Stiffness Irregular
per NZS 1170.5. As a consequent to this, response
spectrum analysis was carried out.
Of particular complexity was the design of interface of
600mm thick ground floor walls with the side face of raft
foundation. Per contractors preferred method of
construction, the ground walls were to act as form for the
raft foundation. Due to this, the high axial loads in wall
piers acted as shear action on the raft face inducing very
high localised shear stresses in raft concrete. To cater for
high shear stresses in the foundation, embedded beams
with stirrup reinforcing were designed. The cast-in inserts
(reid TIMS) were used in two layers at the bottom of the
wall for wall-foundation connection. Successive set of four
reidbars, connected to TIMS, acting as starter bars, were
provided with closely spaced stirrups to act as embedded
beams to cater for high localised shear stresses in
concrete.
Project Benaud: Value $25m, Floor area 2,500 m2,
Dunedin
The roof consisted of two levels with a step. This very
roof step introduced irregular load paths at parts of the
building. Also, due to architectural requirements, wall
bracings in few elevations had somewhat irregular
distribution along the height of the building. In order to
capture the demand on this irregular lateral load path, I
decided to carry out 3D analysis of the building at the
onset of the detailed design phase. Not only the
adequate load paths were confirmed through analysis, it
also made possible to reduce the roof weight through
optimising the steel design.
Recent evidence from building damaged in the
Canterbury Earthquake Series showed that some
reidbar bracing system performed poorly. Following
this, Reids advised to design their bracing system for
ductility of 1.0. Same was adopted for this project.
The tank farm foundation is a shallow raft foundation on
pre-consolidated ground and supports 16 vessels
containing beer.
The majority of soils encountered during the
investigation were gravels or plastic silts, the risk of
cyclic liquefaction is considered to be low. The soils
may, however, be susceptible to cyclic softening and
general densification under seismic loading.
The silt materials in the hydraulic fill layer would likely to
be subject to softening under cyclic stress from
significant earthquakes. The most significant
consequence of this softening would be a reduction in
the undrained shear strength leading to degradation of
the soil, including a reduction in bearing capacity.
Due to the risk of cycling softening, the geotechnical
safe bearing capacity for cyclic softening was reduced
to 30 kPa as opposed 75 kPa for no cyclic softening
under seismic conditions.
The effect of cyclic softening was studied my modelling
the foundation of Tank Farm with upper and lower
bound soil stiffnesses. Due to excessive soil bearing
pressure, the legs location of the Tanks containing beer
was optimised such that the load is distributed over a
wider area resulting in less bearing pressures. As a
result the raft has to be designed for greater area than
required by arrangement of the tanks alone.
166 Moorhouse Avenue Units 5-9 Strengthening:
Value $1.5m, Floor area 3,230 m2, Christchurch
I have been involved in preparing the scope of works,
fee estimation and managing delivery.
Discussing the project brief with client was to produce a
strengthening scheme which is economical and causes
minimum disruption to the building tenants where
possible.
The three options discussed included (1) Replacement
of select wall panels with new panels, (2) Shotcreting of
the select walls from outside the building and (3)
Installation of braced steel frame inside the building.
The client was made aware that option (1) would require
major disruptions to the running business and is
expensive, whereas option (3) is economical compared
to option one but will cause major disruptions to the
running business.
Only option (2) was proposed to be feasible meeting
client requirements as majority of the wall strengthening
works (shotcreting) involved carrying out works from
outside the building and there was no need to vacate
the building where shotcreting was required.
Detailed Structural Assessment of Colombo and
Lowrie Halls, Lincoln University
Further to details as given under Element 2.
Since the building is founded on shallow strip footing
(12in thick, 3ft wide), I assessed the footing to be
incapable to act as fully fixed restraint which is typically
assumed for wall structures. Instead the footing was
modelled as strip with spring support.
I modelled the building in ETABS using stick (beam)
element for walls for both RC walls and block walls.
I checked the structure for shear limit state, N-M limit
state and foundation limit which included maximum soil
bearing pressure and foundation strength. It was found
that foundations reach their ultimate limit state before
majority of the lateral load-resisting members of the
superstructure. Therefore, the final building score
(%NBS) was reported corresponding to the ultimate
limit state of foundations i.e., foundations remain elastic
and in an undamaged state.
Lyttelton Recreation Centre: Value $3m
The cost estimate based on the concept design
indicated that the project is over-budget. I reviewed the
cost estimate report and found out that potential cost
savings can be made if structural system of the building
is modified.
The Gymnasium part consists of a basketball field and
has reinforced block walls at its perimeter. The
transverse structural system consisted of steel portal
frames with braced gable ends above block walls.
During the cost estimate review, I noticed that the portal
frames the gymnasium required re-alignment
(estimated at $250,000) due to earthquake damage.
Further the portal frames were deemed to require 6 No.
new reinforced concrete ground tie beams (estimated
at $66,000).
Upon my advice, the roof structural system was
changed by adding new cross bracing in both principle
directions. This took off the demand from the portal
frames and the whole system acted as braced system.
All the roof lateral load is resisted by the roof truss and
then transferred into walls at the perimeter of the
Gymnasium. Ground tie beams were also not required
due to the seismic loads transferred to the walls with
portal columns acting as gravity-only columns.
The additional bracing in the roof space was estimated
at $66,000 and the cost differential of $244,000
between additional bracing and proposed ground
beams brought the project well within budget.
Guidance was sought from the job director on the frame
verticality issue and it was assessed that the frame
verticality was not an issue for braced structural system
due to negligible P- effects.
Element Warners Plot Redevelopment: Value $14.5m, Floor
area 2200m2, CBD Christchurch.
5 Be responsible I acted as Job Manager for this project and am responsible
for making for job management activities such as managing delivery,
decisions on part liaison with the wider design teams when required, billing
or all of one or to the client, informing the client of the job progress,
more complex raising fee variations, attending biweekly design team
engineering meetings etc.
activities
6 Manage part or I was responsible for overall project management and
all of one or delivery. This included liaising with the architect and other
more complex external and internal engineering disciplines including
engineering Building Services (external), Civil, Surveying, Geotechnical
activities in and Environmental (internal), attending biweekly meetings.
accordance with
good I was also responsible that the drawings and other
engineering deliverables were prepared commensurate with Beca
management quality procedures. For instance, in order to ensure that
practice drawings meet quality procedures, I had the drawings
checked by the head draughtsperson.
I was also responsible for attending biweekly design team
meetings at the Project Managers Office, and updating
the Beca project team with changes as appropriate.
I also attended building consent pre-application meeting
with the wider design team to explain structural design.
This meeting was carried out to help expedite grant of
Building Consent once application is lodged. From
structural documentation view point, the CCC team
suggested that the calculations and drawings should show
clearly the design of the structure for fire. On drawings, it
was clearly marked what structural elements are fire-rated.
The roof was not fire-rated, so the precast shear walls at
that level had to cantilever for after-fire stability;
appropriate calculations were highlighted in the calculation
document and relevant design criteria was added to the
Design Features Report.
Project Benaud: Value $25m, Floor area 2,500 m2,
Dunedin
This is further to explanation under Element 2.
Majority of the numerical work was undertaken by a
graduate structural engineer. I was responsible for the
correctness of his work. The project was externally peer
reviewed and no major change was proposed as a
result.
I was responsible for two main structural changes; firstly
replacement of steel angle bracing with reidbar bracing
system; secondly optimising the rafter sizes from
360UB57 to 310UB40.
Before materialising the change in rafter size, I took the
project architect in confidence as this was a major
change in terms of drafting, amending required ceiling
heights, re-drafting lower ceiling which was prevalent
approximately on half the building footprint. The project
architect liked the idea of significant saving in cost and
improved seismic performance for reduced roof weight.
I was responsible for managing day to day structural
engineering activities of the project both during design
and construction. This included overseeing graduate
engineers work, liaison with the wider project design
team, architect in particular, attending weekly progress
meetings, managing drafting out of Indonesia Office,
construction queries.
Construction queries, especially, were very fast paced
due to tight construction programme. A maximum of
only two days were allocated to respond to each query;
and out of two days, first day was reserved for me to
respond to structural engineering aspect of the queries
while second day was reserved for the architect to
respond. This was effectively managed by appropriate
resource allocation (of myself and the graduate design
engineer) in the section-wide resource plan.
166 Moorhouse Avenue Units 5-9 Strengthening:
Value $1.5m, Floor area 3,230 m2, Christchurch
I acted as Job Manager for this project and am
responsible for job management activities such as
managing delivery, liaison with the tenants when
required, billing to the client, informing the client of the
job progress etc.
Post-design, during the tender stage, I was involved on
clients behalf in evaluating the three tenders submitted
to the client.
The project is in construction phase and I pay regular
site visits to inspect site works and I am responsible for
dealing with construction-related queries from different
parties such as steel fabricator, concrete precaster and
the main contractor.
site visit reports
Detailed Structural Assessment of Colombo and
Lowrie Halls, Lincoln University
At the outset of the project, I decided to model the shear
wall building using stick elements (beam elements) as
opposed to using Shell elements.
It was demonstrated through a simplified 2D example
that stick elements can be used to replicate shear wall
behaviour by modifying stick element properties. This
greatly reduced the numerical effort which would have
been required otherwise to model nonlinear layered
shell elements for shear walls. Also interpretation of
results while using shell elements is complex compared
to a stick element.
Two appropriate references were also given. These
include:
1. Design of Shear Wall Buildings, CIRIA Report 102.
2. Shear Wall Analysis New Modelling, Same
Answers. by Kenneth Arnott, CSC (UK) Ltd, Product
Manager for CSCs S-Frame and Orion.
Lyttelton Recreation Centre: Value $3m
This is further to explanation under Element 3.
After concept design was complete, I made the
decision to amend the structural system of the
Gymnasium part of the building in order to help reduce
the project cost and costing differential between
concept design and amended design showed that the
decision was correct and favoured the client and project
requirements.
(Attach cost estimates and site visit reports)
My responsibilities included preparing the fee proposal
in accordance with the RFP from the client, preparing
risk assessment of the job upon grant of commission,
overseeing different stages of the structural design
along with managing the civil engineering of the job,
attending design team meetings during both design and
construction phases, managing engineering resources,
controlling financials, liaising with the quantity surveyor
and reporting to the client.
Risk Assessment Report
Drawings
DFR
Element Warners Plot Redevelopment: Value $14.5m, Floor
area 2200m2, CBD Christchurch.
7 Identify, As part of on-job compulsory training, I have attended an
assess and in-house training session on Risk assessment and its
manage procedure tailored to Beca Quality Management System.
engineering risk
I was involved in preparing the project risk paper. Please
refer to the attached risk paper.
Under the headship of the project manager JLL, Safety in
Design was also carried out.
As part of the project delivery, I attended the Pre-Tender
Review Meeting with the wider design team consisting of
Structural engineer, Building services engineers
(Aurecon), Architect (architect studio), Client, tenant
(Crystal Imports) and the Contractor (Hawkins). Useful
comments were exchanged across all parties and
incorporated later in the drawings.
In order to reduce the risk of design flaws, the verification
of structural design was carried out internally. From
quality view point, the structural drawings were reviewed
by the head draughtsperson to ensure that the drawings
format is commensurate with Beca Quality Procedures.
8 Conduct
engineering
activities to an
ethical standard
at least
equivalent to the
relevant code of
ethical conduct
9 Recognise the The new development was proposed at location where
reasonably original Warners hotel existed. The original Warners hotel
foreseeable was a brick building and incurred extensive damage during
social, cultural the Canterbury earthquake sequence.
and
environmental The original building had a historic Porte Cochere on the
effects of west elevation of the building. This historic structure has
professional been proposed to be restored an integrated at the request
engineering of the Christchurch City Council into new development.
activities
The end result would be a structure replicating the original
generally
building, successfully blending into the surrounding as
before.
Project Benaud: Value $25m, Floor area 2,500 m2,
Dunedin
The project was externally peer reviewed by a
Chartered Professional Engineer. Constructive criticism
was made by the reviewer. As a result, few additional
calculations/clarification were provided to the reviewer
where asked and useful comments accepted and
incorporated in the final design. Please refer to the
attached peer review comments.
Grad mentoring
As broadly defined in Element Five.
The rafter design was economised from 360UB57 to
310UB40, and heavy equal angle roof bracing were
replaced with relatively lighter and economical reidbar
bracing system. This not only saved some cost to the
project but also improved seismic performance due to
being relatively lightweight.
166 Moorhouse Avenue Units 5-9 Strengthening:
Value $1.5m, Floor area 3,230 m2, Christchurch
The building was strengthened to 80%NBS excluding
foundations. The structural walls were founded on a
mixture of foundations on liquefiable of soils; walls on
pad footings on either end of the wall; walls with nominal
connection with slab on grade only with local thickening
of the slab under the wall.
The existing foundation types were assessed as
inappropriate for liquefiable soils due to their inability to
cater for differential settlement adequately. Either deep
foundation or raft footing would have been a likely
foundation system had the building been designed
today.
At the outset of the project, the client was made aware
of the significant cost implications of retrofitting the
existing foundations. The client was after a practical and
pragmatic strengthening solution. I proposed to
strengthen the superstructure only but made the client
aware of the risk of on-going foundation settlement
which is due to liquefiable soil conditions rather than
lack of structural foundation not being adequate for
strength. The Canterbury earthquakes have provided
further evidence that on its own, liquefaction is unlikely
to lead to a risk to life in low rise buildings (less than 3
storeys) that are well tied together and are therefore
likely to maintain their integrity after significant
settlement occurs.
Detailed Structural Assessment of Colombo and Lyttelton Recreation Centre: Value $3m
Lowrie Halls, Lincoln University
I was involved in preparing the project risk paper along As part of design verification, I carried out independent
with presenting it to the Beca risk committee. Please high level hand calculations to check the correctness of
refer to the attached risk paper. the computer analysis produced by the design
engineer.
The building was designed in 1966 and the status of the
available structural drawings was not noted on the I was involved in preparing the project risk paper.
drawings. There was a risk that the drawings and on- Please refer to the attached risk paper.
site construction differ. Therefore, before carrying out
any numerical work, I thought it prudent to visit the site Please refer to the attached site visit reports 8 and 9 for
to get a feel of the construction and confirm the the following.
structural drawings.
During site visits, I noted two instances which could
During a walk-around inspection of the building, I found lead to unpleasant incidents. First came up during the
that the ground floor wall arrangement is significantly inspection of Squash Courts, the area had no lighting
different compared to drawings for some of the towers. I arrangement at the time of site visit while workers were
noted the differences in construction and site measured still working; identified that the rebars had no caps and
the missing wall geometry (refer page 3 of Tower E due to limited space available for man movement, there
calculation). was potential for someone to get an injury. The incident
was reported to the site supervisor.
Secondly I spotted that a scaffold board was missing in
the temporary platform used for erection of roof bracing
at a height of about 5m from the floor. The platform was
constructed next to the viewing gallery of the Squash
Courts, and while stepping onto the platform from
viewing gallery, it was very easy to miss the missing
scaffold board as the very first board was missing. The
incident was reported to the site supervisor.
This project has also been internally audited.
Reporting on seismic assessment is a good deal of
responsibility, knowing that the conclusions and
recommendations given form the basis of major
decisions for the building owners and tenants
associated with the building. An over-conservative
assessment resulting in a low building score might have
caused the evacuation of the accommodation halls. On
the contrary if the building strength is over stated,
peoples lives may be unknowingly at a higher risk.
Therefore before finalising the building score, all the
assumptions were thoroughly discussed with the Design
Verifier and project director. After their review, a need
was felt that the foundation limit state should be
discussed with another subject specialist. As a result,
this was discussed with an expert (Rob Jury) out of
Beca Wellington office.
The advice was taken around whether Ultimate
Geotechnical Bearing Capacity (UGBC) should be used
for the assessment of existing structures or the Ultimate
Safe Bearing Capacity (0.5 UGBC).
The project objectives included upgrading the general
aesthetic appeal of the site, improve the visual impact
of the site from the street approaches, improve the
reception area functionality and aesthetic.
For the new entry part of the building, I proposed steel
frame structure. This allowed to have big windows
between steel columns and helped lift the face of the
community centre.
Element Warners Plot Redevelopment: Value $14.5m, Floor Project Benaud: Value $25m, Floor area 2,500 m2, 166 Moorhouse Avenue Units 5-9 Strengthening: Detailed Structural Assessment of Colombo and Lyttelton Recreation Centre: Value $3m
area 2200m2, CBD Christchurch. Dunedin Value $1.5m, Floor area 3,230 m2, Christchurch Lowrie Halls, Lincoln University

10 As a good practice, a design features report (or structural As structural lead design engineer, I was responsible Please refer to the attached email communication with
Communicate design criteria) has been prepared to provide the design for attending weekly meetings with the wider design the client informing him of the cost implications of
clearly with other summary. This report makes it easier to hand a project team, coordinating the design with other disciplines, strengthening the foundations.
engineers and over to someone else or if any further work is carried out in communicating changes to the structural design,
others that he is future. incorporating changes in structural design effected by I was responsible for providing progress updates to the
likely to deal with other disciplines. client during the design phase and monitoring
in the course of As a Job Manager on this project, I was responsible for construction later on, addressing contractors queries,
his professional attending biweekly design team meetings at JLL offices I was also responsible for liaising with our drafting office reviewing shop drawings, addressing any comments
engineering and present work progress. I was also responsible for in Jakarta to get the drawings prepared. from the building consent officer.
activities updating my project team consisting of geotechnical,
surveying, civil and environmental. I was also responsible for mentoring a graduate The construction drawings were outsourced out of
engineer on the project. Nelson. I was responsible for instructing the
draughtsperson and overall drawing preparation.

11 Maintain the Driven strongly by the effects of the recent Canterbury
currency of his earthquakes, there have been numerous documents
professional developed and issued by the industry as recommended
engineering methods of analysis and design with respect to earthquake
knowledge and damaged buildings and new buildings in Canterbury area.
skills For example these include NZSEE redbook, various DBH
(MBIE) guides, SESOC guides.
On this project, particular use has been made of SESOCs
Interim Design Guidance (March 2013) in addition to
NZS 3101 requirements for detailing the shear walls.
At one location (grid 7+), the 3.5m high x 6m long brick
veneer was supported on a steel angle which was
bolted to the side of a PFC beam, inducing torsion due
to eccentric brick load. NZS 3404 does not explain
torsion design in great detail.
Due to space restrictions and bolting requirement of
steel angle section to PFC (main supporting member),
use of closed section was not an option. I used
Eurocode 3, which explains the steel torsion design in
good detail, to design the PFC for torsional action
effects.
The project was externally peer reviewed by a
Chartered Professional Engineer. Constructive criticism
was made by the reviewer. As a result, few additional
calculations/clarification were provided to the reviewer
where asked and useful comments accepted and
incorporated in the final design.
Per Section 3 (updated 2013) of Assessment and Further to explanation as given under Elements 2 and
Improvement of Structural Performance of Buildings in 5.
Earthquakes, it was recommended that on its own,
liquefaction is unlikely to lead to a risk to life in light- On this project, extensive use has been made of
weight timber buildings or other low rise (less than 3 NZSEE redbook and Priestelys book particularly to
storeys) buildings that are well tied together and are define the material laws and assessing the %NBS of the
therefore likely to maintain their integrity after significant existing building.
settlement occurs.
From analytical modelling perspective, economical
The building had sustained damage as result of modelling strategy (stick modelling) has been employed
Canterbury earthquake sequence. Beca has previously based on the appropriate references (given above).
completed an earthquake damage assessment report
on the building. The floor level survey carried out
suggested that the building has undergone a maximum
uniform settlement in the order of 221mm with a
maximum differential settlement in the order of 120mm
across the building footprint.
Considering the recommendation of the NZSEE
technical guidance and keeping in mind the evidence of
the performance of the subject building during
earthquakes, I suggested the client to strengthen the
superstructure only, leaving the foundation as it is.

12 Exercise Further to details as given under Element 3.
sound
professional At the start of the detailed design, I noticed there were
engineering quite a few relatively not so clearly defined roof load
judgement paths due to
- roofs having multiple levels,
- roof segments having pitches orthogonal to
each another and
- at places discontinuity of the wall bracing
along the height of the building.
To investigate the roof load path in detail, I decided to
carry out a 3D analysis. A 2D analysis would not have
captured the tricky load path. Opting 3D analysis also
resulted in optimizing steel member sizes including
down sizing of rafters and selection of reid bracing
system over steel angle bracing.
There were discussions with the client regarding the
optimal strengthening solution which best suits client
requirements, has minimum effect on business
continuity of already tenanted building.
The three options discussed included
- Replacement of select wall panels with new
panels
- Shotcreting of the select walls from outside
the building
- Installation of braced steel frame inside the
building.
Option one would have required major disruptions to the
running business, and so would option three. Only
option two was proposed to be feasible meeting client
requirements as majority of the strengthening works
involved carrying out works outside the building.
At the outset of the project, I proposed to model the Further to details as given under Element 3.
shear wall building using stick elements (beam
elements). It was demonstrated through a simplified 2D I proposed to introduce alternate load path turning
example that stick elements can be used to replicate moment resisting steel frames into braced frame. This
shear wall behaviour. This greatly reduced the was acknowledged to have reduced the construction
numerical effort which would have been required to cost and programme.
model nonlinear layered shell elements for shear walls.
Two appropriate references were also given. These
include
1. Design of Shear Wall Buildings, CIRIA Report 102.
2. Shear Wall Analysis New Modelling, Same
Answers. by Kenneth Arnott, CSC (UK) Ltd, Product
Manager for CSCs S-Frame and Orion.