Civil & Natural Resources

Civil and Natural Resources Engineering

Seminar Series 2013

Seminars are on Fridays starting at 3:00 pm in room E11. Any change in venue or time will be highlighted. Usually, presentations will be 35 minutes, leaving approximately 15 minutes for discussion afterwards.

All interested students, staff, practising engineers and public are invited to attend. Postgraduates are expected to attend.

If no affiliation is noted, the speaker is part of the University of Canterbury Civil and Natural Resources Engineering Department.

Date Title: Presenter Add to your Outlook Calendar

Friday 24 May

One-way or the other, Jeanette Ward, PhD student

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Motivated by the debate over whether busy streets within central city areas should be one-way traffic flow or two-way, a masters’ project researched how this decision might be best made by local decision makers.

The literature review found that were there are a range of reasons why streets are converted from one type of flow to another, the common reason most cited in the literature for one-way to two-way is to contribute to central city regeneration. However no clear link appears to have been established between the type of street system – one-way or two-way – and economic viability. It was also found that pedestrian safety and the convenience benefits of one-way and two-way streets remain areas of debate.

A series of industry interviews were undertaken and were aimed at better understanding the views of various industries involved in planning our built environment, primarily transport and urban design; the views of these can often be at odds.

Dunedin are considering a conversion of two central city streets from one-way to two-way and this is used as case study for testing the framework. This presentation outlines the case study including a workshop held with DCC and NZTA staff and the resulting framework.

Biography
I am a Principal Transportation Engineer at Abley Transportation in Christchurch. My engineering background covers a number of fields starting off with materials testing then moving onto hydraulic modelling, solid waste management, structural engineering and finally onto transportation! I have an NZCE and BE Civil (Hons) and became a Chartered Engineer in 2006. I have worked for local government in NZ and consultants, both in NZ and the UK. My current role covers a number of areas from streetscape design to parking management to transport planning. My MET research project was motivated by the post-earthquake debate over whether the one-way streets in Christchurch’s central city should be retained.

All Welcome


Recent presentations:

Alex Copping, University of Bath, Vancouver, Canada
Construction worker sleep deprivation and its effects on personal safety and lost productivity

Lydell Wiebe, PhD Candidate, University of Toronto
Controlled rocking steel frames for damage-resistant design: Insights from large-scale shake table testing and numerical analysis

Professor Andy Buchanan
Timber in Christchurch Rebuild

Ignacio (Nacho) Fraga Cadorniga, University of A Coruña, Spain
Numerical modeling of free surface flows using Iber – a 2D freeware model

Prof. Jutta Geldermann, University of Gottingen, Germany
Optimizing the Production and Distribution System of Bioenergy Villages

Keh-Chyuan (KC) Tsai, NTU Taiwan
Experimental and Analytical Earthquake Response Simulations on Full-Scale Buckling and Buckling-Restrained Braced Frames

2012

Jonathan Bray, University of Berkeley
Liquefaction-induced Building Movements

Kim Rait, University of Canterbury
Numerical Modelling of the Micromechanical Behaviour of Sturzstrom

Professor Jonathan Bray, University of Berkeley
Simplified Procedures for Estimating Earthquake-induced Devatoric Slope Displacements

Mark Loewen, University of Alberta
Studies of River Ice Processes in Canada

Matthew Hughes, University of Canterbury
Sea-level rise in Christchurch, New Zealand: Envisioning synergistic climate-seismic risks and exploring alternative futures in dynamic coastal landscapes

Ikuo Towhata, University of Tokyo
Geotechnical Damage Caused by the Recent Gigantic Earthquake in Japan

Tom Cochrane, Thanapon Piman, Mr Mauricio Arias
River at Risk: Quantifying the impacts of hydropower development and climate change on critical ecosystems of the Mekong

Kevin Frank, University of Canterbury
System Effectiveness for a Risk-Informed Fire Safety Design Tool

Commissioner Alex Sutherland
The Environment Court

Associate Professor Russell Green (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University)
Mitigation of Liquefaction Using Stone Columns

Ramila Peiris, University of Waterloo
Application of Multivariate Statistical Analysis Techniques for Monitoring, Modelling and Optimization of Drinking Water Treatment Systems

Simona Esposito, University of Naples
Seismic Risk Assessment of Lifelines: Syner-G project and L'Aquila Gas Distribution Network Case Study

Dr Sonia Giovinazzi, Research Fellow
Recovery of Lifelines following the 22nd February 2011 Christchurch Earthquake: successes and issues

Associate Professor Li Bing, Nanyang Technological University
Exploring the Force Transfer Mechanism in Reinforced Concrete structural members: From Experimental Observations to Theoretical Rationalization

Professor Ian Buckle, University of Nevada
Earthquake Engineering in a Flat World: Improving the Performance of Civil Infrastructure

Professor Sue McNeill, University of Delaware
Why Measure Transportation Infrastructure Performance?

Daniel Wicke, University of Canterbury
Urban Stormwater Research – a Postdoc’s Perspective

Mr James O'Neill, University of Canterbury
Fire Performance of Timber Floors

Dr Bryan Karney, University of Toronto
Personal Strategies for Coping with Complexity: a Navigational Guide

Dr Matthew Hughes, University of Canterbury
Development of a Liquefaction Resistance Index for Christchurch City

Associate Professor Mark Milke, University of Canterbury
Improving the Writing of Engineering Students through Portfolios

Professor Huub Savenije, Delft University of Technology/UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, The Netherlands
Salinity and Tides in Alluvial Estuaries

Dr Ian Mason, University of Canterbury
Understanding Behaviour on Climate Change “An engineer’s intrepid journey into the social sciences

Chan Kim, University of Canterbury
Mode Choice in Freight Transport in New Zealand


2011

Dr Ian Mason, University of Canterbury
A 100% renewable electricity system for New Zealand

Prof Fabio Biondini, Department of Structural Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
Time-variant Performance and Lifetime Reliability of Concrete Structures Exposed to Fire and Corrosion

Weng Yuen Kam, University of Canterbury
Selective Weakening and Post-Tensioning for the Seismic Retrofit of Non-Ductile RC Frames

Professor Roberto Leon, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Tech, Atlanta
Analytical and Experimental Assessment of Steel Truss Bridge Gusset Plate Connections

Professor Say Kee Ong, Iowa State University, USA
Compounds of emerging concern: Estrogenic compounds in municipal wastewater and in the environment

Associate Professor Guido Magenes, University of Pavia
Seismic design and assessment of masonry buildings in Italy:  Recent research and code development issues

Michael Sievers, Hinnerk Bormann, CUTEC-Institut GmbH, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany
Improving the energy efficiency of sewage treatment plants by coupling the thermal sludge hydrolysis with P-N-recovery