Seismic isolation of civil buildings in New Zealand

In New Zealand, seismic isolation, the technique in which the structure is decoupled from earthquake-induced ground motions, has now advanced to the point where it is often considered for the protection of both new and existing buildings, bridges, and industrial plant. The seismically isolated buildings fall into two broad categories—fragile structures of historic significance and new structures with contents which need to be protected. In this paper we briefly describe the principles of seismic isolation and discuss some of the isolation systems available before giving some examples of the application of seismic isolation to buildings in New Zealand.