We’re pleased to announce that the first test on stainless steel connection was successfully performed 28 July 2017 at the University of Auckland’s testing lab. Answering what we believe is a growing industry necessity to understand the behaviour of structural stainless steel connections under severe seismic load. For HERA it’s an area where we currently…
The Statistics House investigation has highlighted that had the Kaikoura earthquake have happened at a different hour – lives would have been lost. Now more than ever, urgent action is required to safeguard and ensure existing precast concrete floor designs are checked and the 10-year old concrete design standard updated. On 14 November 2016 the…
Today marks six years since the devastating Christchurch earthquake of 22 February 2011, a seismic event that continues to not only affect the local region itself, but New Zealand as a whole. As we honour the 185 people who lost their lives, and the many hundreds more who suffered injury, or damage to homes and…
Reinforced concrete structures often use the “seismic” grade of reinforcing bar 500E (to AS/NZS 4671). The designation “500E” means the reinforcing rebar must meet specific requirements in regards to mechanical properties to ensure the bar will have adequate performance under earthquake loading. The yield strength must be between 500 – 600MPa, the minimum elongation is…
The 14th November Kaikoura earthquake was a sequence of ruptures with a combined magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale, and struck 15 kilometres north-east of Culverden, 95 km from Christchurch. Whilst the rupture started at the epicentre, the earthquake progressed northwards, travelling at a speed of 2 km per second, over a distance of…
We are saddened to advise that Dr Robin Shepherd – our founding Director from 1979 to 1980 passed away peacefully at age 83 in Los Angeles, California. Robin received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Canterbury in 1971 and D.Sc. in Structural Dynamics from the University of Leeds in 1973. Prior to…
HERA has recently made a decision to assist the commercialisation for a seismic damage-resistant system for modular steel structures developed by Dr. John Jing in his PhD thesis. He’s received this opportunity through a HERA research scholarship fund, starting his PhD study in 2009. Supervised by Prof Charles Clifton, he has developed a base isolation…
Creating a distinctive landscape to stand the test of time Brought to us by: SCNZ Duration: 2010 Location: Auckland, New Zealand SCNZ help to illustrate the integral role that structural steel plays in our built landscape. taking a closer look at five-year project to upgrade University of Auckland’s Faculty of Science buildings. The $290m re-development…
If you’ve been to Christchurch in the past five years, the chances are you’ve seen some form of diagonal steel bracing in one or more of the city’s buildings. The reinforcements are called Buckling Restraint Braces (BRBs) and they’re now used in approximately 80% of new builds in the city. These braces are the main…
The New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering and the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society co-hosted the Tenth Pacific Conference on Earthquake Engineering (PCEE 2015) in Sydney, Australia. The conference was held between 6 and 8 November 2015, and was very well-attended by a mixture of practitioners and researchers from around the world. The keynote presenters at…
The Aotea Event Centre was a well selected venue to the second Steel Innovations Conference during Metals Week held on the 1 – 4 September. First launched in 2013, the biannual Steel Innovations Conference provides a forum for structural engineers, steel industry representatives, academics and students to share the latest knowledge in the design and…
A series of seminars on Engineering the Repair and Retrofitting of Steel Structures took place in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in April 2015. More than 60 engineers have attended the events. The seminars were presented by Robert E. Shaw, one of the leading experts on seismic welded and bolted connections, the Chairman of the International Institute of…