The current drought in Auckland is a far cry from its renowned rainy weather. The city endured a record-breaking 29 days of rain in August last year, preventing the ground from drying out, and now the extreme heat has caused soil to dry to an excess, resulting in ground subsidence.

There are many areas of practice for engineers and while specialisation begins at university, with students choosing the type of degree to undertake, professional direction often becomes clearer through on-the-job experience.

FOLLOWING EXTENSIVE testing and field trials, Mainmark Ground Engineering has introduced what it believes the first commercially viable, non-invasive ground improvement and liquefaction mitigation technique that can be applied beneath existing structures.

With courtesy of DEMM Magazine www.demm.co.nz.

How ground engineering can make your home earthquake ready

The devastation caused by seismic events in New Zealand over the past decade has provided greater understanding around the interaction between buildings structures and soil during an earthquake.

The magnitude 6.3 earthquake that struck Christchurch in February 2011 caused tragic loss of life and immense damage to buildings, roads and infrastructure. More than 7000 homes were ‘red zoned’, meaning the ground they were built on was considered too high risk for repairing or rebuilding.

Following extensive testing and field trials, Mainmark Ground Engineering has introduced the first commercially viable, non-invasive ground improvement and liquefaction mitigation technique that can be applied beneath existing structures

Following extensive testing and field trials, Mainmark Ground Engineering has marketed what it says is the first commercially viable, non-invasive ground improvement and liquefaction mitigation technique that can be applied beneath existing structures.

Mainmark Ground Engineering is introducing Terefirm, a non-invasive soil densification and liquefaction mitigation technique for existing structures.

Following testing and field trials, Mainmark has rolled out the first commerciallyviable, non-invasive ground improvement and liquefaction mitigation technique that can be applied beneath existing structures.

Mainmark has been providing specialist ground engineering and asset preservation solutions since 1983.

Originally founded in Australia, our local operation has grown into a global enterprise with offices in New Zealand, the UK, Japan and Thailand.

Smart technology is playing an increasing role in reducing transport infrastructure maintenance costs, as demonstrated in these four case studies.

A resin injection process developed by Mainmark following the Christchurch earthquake offers a groundbreaking solution to the problem of liquefaction.

This article first appeared in Engineering New Zealand’s magazine, EG, in issue 7/2019.