UC quake experts gain EQC funding for research

UC quake experts gain EQC funding for research

Three University of Canterbury researchers have won funding to examine critical questions about earthquakes in New Zealand.

EQC’s 2018 Biennial Research Grants will help fund UC research projects advancing physics-based ground-motion modelling to provide better understanding of the strong shaking in Wellington city during the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, whether we can use the history of earthquakes on faults to help forecast future earthquakes, and how earthquakes liquefy gravelly soil – and how can we minimise the risk of liquefaction.

EQC is funding investigations of these and other critical questions through its 2018 Biennial Grants research programme.

The University of Canterbury 2018 Biennial Research Grants projects are:

• Can we use the history of earthquakes on faults to help forecast future earthquakes? (Can concepts of the seismic cycle be used to forecast future large-magnitude earthquakes in New Zealand?) ($70,000) led by Structural Geology Professor Andy Nicol, UC Geological Sciences.

• Using the latest simulation techniques to understand the strong shaking in Wellington city during the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake – and implications for future earthquakes. (Advancing physics-based ground motion modelling of the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake: Modelling basin-edge effects in Wellington and proposed implications for seismic design) ($65,000) led by Earthquake Engineering Professor Brendon Bradley, UC Civil and Natural Resources Engineering.

• How do earthquakes liquefy gravelly soil – and how can we minimise the risk? (Site characterisation and liquefaction potential of Blenheim gravelly sandy deposits) ($66,900) Senior Lecturer Dr Gabriele Chiaro, UC Civil and Natural Resources Engineering.

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