Publications

 

The Society has a variety of publications available, including various Press Releases and Public submissions, along with the Society's quarterly BULLETIN which is of interest to all those involved with earthquakes and their effects.

 

All publications can be ordered through the Society Secretary.

 

 

Assessment and Improvement of the Structural Performance of Buildings in Earthquake

Final with Corrigendum 1 now available. (PDF, 5.25 Mb)

 

This new publication from the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering marks a new milestone in the understanding and practical assessment of older buildings and their likely behaviour when subject to earthquake.

 

The recent revision of the Building Act requires Territorial Authorities to develop policies on earthquake prone buildings in their areas of jurisdiction, defined in Section 131 of the Building Act, 2004. The Department of Building and Housing issued a Policy Guidance document for Territorial Authorities in June 2005 and its Appendix 2 refers to the grading scheme that has been presented and explained in this latest NZSEE publication.   

Although not required by the Act, the grading scheme nevertheless provides a simple way of determining the earthquake risk grade of buildings for Territorial Authorities. Further, through its use it is likely to raise awareness of the risk from earthquake more generally. This in turn will enable market forces to work in a manner that will reduce earthquake risks as owners of adversely affected buildings improve their buildings over time to ensure that they remain commercially attractive.

 

Seeking Case Study Articles for the Bulletin

NZSEE wants to encourage more case-study oriented articles for the quarterly Bulletin for the benefit of practitioners. We recognise that members can be put off from preparing brief articles because of the perception that they 'don't fit' the mould of the technical papers that are usually published.

 

In order to change this perception, provided below is a basic outline of what we are actively seeking for publication. It is envisaged that these will sit in a 'Technical Notes' section specifically created for this purpose.

Scope

Articles on any aspect of earthquake engineering that illustrates the application of technical parameters or project processes (e.g. ERBs, base isolation, foundation design, ground improvement, risk management)

 

Requirements:

• Short & focused (e.g. 2-4 pages of text plus illustrations)
• Must have sufficient technical detail for readers to learn something from
• Should not be promotional in nature

Basic Content:

• Name of project
• Article by (individual name and company name)
• Abstract - summarising project and the aspect of Earthquake Engineering being illustrated
• Introduction
• Project overview
• Earthquake engineering technology or processes involved
  • design or construction parameters used, and basis for their selection (referencing source documents)
  • innovative features
  • illustrations where possible