Journals >> Abstract VOLUME 8. No. 1 ( June 1995)
New Zealand's Performance Based Fire Code and it's Application to a Steel Structure: ( D. Barber, C. Clifton)
New Zealand?s new Building Code System is performance based allowing wide scope in the use of fire engineering and fire safety precautions. Compliance by either following deemed-to-comply documents or submitting a specific fire engineering design, as an alternative. Both of these methods have been used in the design of the fire safety requirements for the steel extensions at Unilever processing plant at Petone. The New Zealand Building Code Acceptable Solutions require a 30 minute fire rating for the structure. Specific fire engineering design shows that no fire rating of the steelwork is required, due to the installation of sprinklers and the inherent fire resistant properties of the structure.
The Codification of Serviceability Criteria in New Zealand ( A. King)
Over recent years New Zealand has been reviewing it?s Standard, NZS 4203, which specifies the design loadings on buildings. In accordance with international trends this has now been published and has been in use for approximately two years. Designers are required to consider both the serviceability and ultimate limit state conditions of buildings and their components. A major difficulty has been encountered in adequate specifying the loading and performance criteria appropriate to satisfy the Serviceability Limit State requirements of the New Zealand Building Code. This paper details the procedure adopted to derive serviceability criteria which are now published within NZS 4203. The background as to the regulatory requirements relating to serviceability is discussed as is the basis upon which the criteria were decided, the attempts made to remove the suggested limits from the mandatory section of the Standard, why this action was considered appropriate and effectiveness of this action. Comparisons will also be drawn between the criteria stipulated and experiences elsewhere with the reasons given to justify the variations.
MATERIALS CORNER
Supressing Steel?s Seismic Archilles Heel : ( C. Clifton)
Two recent earthquakes, namely the Northridge earthquake of the 17th, January 1994 and the Great Hanshin earthquake of 17th. January 1995, have caused significant damage to steel framed structures. In the Northridge earthquake, the damage has been principally confined to the site-welded, site-bolted beam column connections of modern moments resisting frames (MRFs) and is due fundamentally, to a design/ material selection flaw in this detail, as is used in the U.S.A. but not in New Zealand. (Refer to [1] for details.) In the Great Hanshin earthquake, the majority of damage was to older structures and due to (i) inadequate strength and/or stiffness in the seismic-resisting systems, and (ii) lack of provision of an adequate load path through the connections. In both earthquakes, however, some damage was attributable directly to inadequate weld quality. If steel can be considered to have an Archilles Heal in terms of seismic-resisting performance, then it is inadequate weld quality in the finished construction.
PROJECT SHEET
Gulf Towers: A Case Study : (H.C.J. Law, C.F.C. Sue, W.G. Banks)
This paper is a case study of a new multi-storey timber building, built on top of a concrete building, which was constructed in the early sixties in Auckland, New Zealand. Aspects of structural design are discussed.
