Monitoring the Seismic Performance of a Post-Tensioned LVL Building During the 2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence.

The following paper presents the seismic performance of a two storey post-tensioned Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) building during the aftershock sequence following the 6.3 MW 22nd February 2011 Canterbury earthquake. Composed of walls in one direction and frames in the other, the structure under analysis was originally tested quasi-statically in the structural laboratories of the University of Canterbury (UoC), Christchurch, New Zealand. Following testing the building was demounted and reassembled at the offices of the STIC research consortium on the campus of UoC with several significant changes being made to convert the building from its initial use as a test specimen into a functioning office structure. Close to the beginning of construction the 7.1 MW 2011 Darfield earthquake occurred in the Canterbury area however construction went ahead as planned with the building being almost complete when the more devastating 2011 February event occurred. An array of 3 dimensional acceleration sensors was installed on the building follow completion. Using time-frequency analyses, in this paper we present a general overview of the dynamic buildings performance during these seismic events.