• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.473-494
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• 2014

Progressive collapse, which is referred to as the collapse of the entire building under local damages, is a common failure mode happened by earthquakes. The collapse process highly depends on the whole structural system. Since, asymmetry of the building plan leads to the local damage concentration; it may intensify the progressive collapse mechanism of asymmetric buildings. In this research the progressive collapse of regular and irregular 6-story RC ordinary moment resisting frame buildings are studied in the presence of the earthquake loads. Collapse process and collapse propagation are investigated using nonlinear time history analyses (NLTHA) in buildings with 5%, 15% and 25% mass asymmetry with respect to the number of collapsed hinges and story drifts criteria. Results show that increasing the value of mass eccentricity makes the asymmetric buildings become unstable earlier and in the early stages with lower number of the collapsed hinges. So, with increasing the mass eccentricity in building, instability and collapse of the entire building occurs earlier, with lower potential of the progressive collapse. It is also demonstrated that with increasing the mass asymmetry the decreasing trend of the number of collapsed beam and column hinges is approximately similar to the decreasing trend in the average story drifts of the mass centers and stiff edges. So, as an alternative to a much difficult-to-calculate local response parameter of the number of collapsed hinges, the story drift, as a global response parameter, measures the potential of progressive collapse more easily.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.151-157
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• 2010

This study is connected with evaluation of the progressive collapse resisting capacity for sustainable RC super tall building design. As the progressive collapse is not considered in current design codes in Korea, differences between linear static and dynamic analysis based on the GSA guidelines was analyzed for better evaluation, and the analysis model of flat plate system was determined. Finally, the progressive collapse resisting capacity was evaluated for structural system of super tall building. According to this study, the results by linear dynamic analysis were underestimated than the results by linear static analysis. Thus, the dynamic coefficient value of 2 provides conservative approach. The Effective Beam Width's model, currently used in field, is useful for the analysis about lateral force, but this model does not consider the effect of load redistribution by the slab. Hence, finite element analysis considering slab element will be needed for progressive collapse resisting capacity of the flat plate system. Finally, analysis model of 80-story building designed based on KBC(Korea Building Code) shows the weakness against progressive collapse because the DCR value is over 2. Thus, the countermeasure for alternative loading path such as installment of spandrel beam and reinforcements around slab is required to prevent the progressive collapse.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.357-378
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• 2016

The progressive collapse phenomenon in structures has been interested by civil engineers and the building standards organizations. This is particularly true for the tall and special buildings ever since local collapse of the Ronan Point tower in UK in 1968. When initial or secondary defects of main load carrying elements, overloads or unpredicted loads occur in the structure, a local collapse may be arise that could be distributed through entire structure and cause global collapse. One is not able to prevent the reason of failure as well as the prevention of propagation of the collapse. Also, one is not able to predict the start point of collapse. Therefore we should generalize design guides to whole or the part of structure based on the risk analysis and use of load carrying elements removal scenario. There are some new guides and criteria for elements and connections to be designed to resist progressive collapse. In this paper, codes and recommendations by various researchers are presented, classified and compared for steel structures. Two current design methods are described in this paper and some retrofitting methods are summarized. Finally a steel building with special moment resistant frame is analyzed as a case study based on two standards guidelines. This includes consideration of codes recommendations. It is shown that progressive collapse potential of the building depends on the removal scenario selection and type of analysis. Different results are obtained based on two guidelines.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.771-786
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• 2009

In the past few decades, effects of natural hazards, such as earthquakes and wind, on existing structures have attracted the attention of researchers and designers. More recently, however, the phenomenon of progressive collapse is becoming more recognized in the field of structural engineering. In practice, the phenomenon can result from a number of abnormal loading events, such as bomb explosions, car bombs, accidental fires, accidental blast loadings, natural hazards, faulty design and construction practices, and premeditated terrorist acts. Progressive collapse can result not only in disproportionate structural failure, but also disproportionate loss of life and injuries. This paper provides an up-to-date comprehensive review of this phenomenon and its momentousness in structural engineering communities. The literature reveals that although the phenomenon of progressive collapse of buildings is receiving considerable attention in the professional engineering community, more research work is still needed in this field to develop a new methodology for efficient and inexpensive design to better protect buildings against progressive collapse.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.277-296
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• 2013

Margin of safety against potential of progressive collapse is among important features of a structural system. Often eccentricity in plan of a building causes concentration of damage, thus adversely affects its progressive collapse safety margin. In this paper the progressive collapse of symmetric and asymmetric 3-story reinforced concrete ordinary moment resisting frame buildings subjected to the earthquake ground motions are studied. The asymmetric buildings have 5%, 15% and 25% mass eccentricity. The distribution of the damage and spread of the collapse is investigated using nonlinear time history analyses. Results show that potential of the progressive collapse at both stiff and flexible edges of the buildings increases with increase in the level of asymmetry in buildings. It is also demonstrated that "drift" as a more easily available global response parameter is a good measure of the potential of progressive collapse rather than much difficult-to-calculate local response parameter of "number of collapse plastic hinges".

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.587-607
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• 2014

Progressive collapse, which is referred to as the collapse of the entire building under local damages, is a common failure mode happened by earthquakes. The collapse process highly depends on the whole structural system. Since, asymmetry of the building plan leads to the local damage concentration; it may intensify the progressive collapse mechanism of asymmetric buildings. In this research the progressive collapse of regular and irregular 6-story RC ordinary moment resisting frame buildings are studied in the presence of the earthquake loads. Collapse process and collapse propagation are investigated using nonlinear time history analyses (NLTHA) in buildings with 5%, 15% and 25% mass asymmetry with respect to the number of collapsed hinges and story drifts criteria. Results show that increasing the value of mass eccentricity makes the asymmetric buildings become unstable earlier and in the early stages with lower number of the collapsed hinges. So, with increasing the mass eccentricity in building, instability and collapse of the entire building occurs earlier, with lower potential of the progressive collapse. It is also demonstrated that with increasing the mass asymmetry the decreasing trend of the number of collapsed beam and column hinges is approximately similar to the decreasing trend in the average story drifts of the mass centers and stiff edges. So, as an alternative to a much difficult-to-calculate local response parameter of the number of collapsed hinges, the story drift, as a global response parameter, measures the potential of progressive collapse more easily.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.1-12
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• 2011

Progressive collapse analyses of high-rise buildings subjected to abnormal loading such as fires, impacts, earthquakes, typhoon, bomb blasts etc. are intended. However it is difficult to perform collapse experiments of the real scale building to determine the capacity of the structure under an extreme loading events. In this study, collapse behavior of a 15 story RC structure building loaded by external explosion pressures were simulated using Extreme Loading Structures (ELS) software. The standoff distance between the RC building and explosives of 1500 kg was 1, 2, 5, 10, and 15 meters. The explosive demolition analysis techniques based on removal of partial support structures following blast scenario was adapted to investigate the transition process of progressive collapse-local damage.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.555-565
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• 2020

The main objective of seismic codes is to prevent structural collapse and ensure life safety. Collapse probability of a structure is usually assessed by making a series of analytical model assumptions. This paper investigates the effect of finite element modeling (FEM) assumptions on the estimated collapse capacity of a reinforced concrete (RC) frame building and points out the modeling limitations. Widely used element formulations and hysteresis models are considered in the analysis. A full-scale, three-story RC frame building was utilized as the experimental model. Alternative finite element models are established by adopting a range of different modeling strategies. Using each model, the collapse capacity of the structure is evaluated via Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA). Results indicate that the analytically estimated collapse capacities are significantly sensitive to the utilized modeling approaches. Furthermore, results also show that models that represent stiffness degradation lead to a better correlation between the actual and analytical responses. Results of this study are expected to be useful for in developing proper models for assessing the collapse probability of RC frame structures.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.613-621
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• 2015

The most urgent measure to be taken for a rapid rescue when a building collapse happens is to designate or predict a possible location where human beings are alive. It is, however, very difficult to find and correctly designate such cavities by conventional geophysical survey due to a pile of debris of building members. In this study, the simulation of building collapse induced by an earthquake was conducted to predict forming pattern of a existing cavities. The simulation cases included the influence of structure wall existence and height of building. Three types of building structure: five-story, ten-story and fifteen-story were prepared as a simulation case. In the case of high building, a collapse range on the inside of the building increased consequently lowering the possibility of lifeguard cavern forming. In addition, when a wall exists in the basement floor, the possibility that existing cavities could be formed increased compared to the cases without wall.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.229-235
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• 2012

In this paper the progressive collapse potential of building structures designed for real construction projects were evaluated based on arbitrary column removal scenario using various alternate path methods specified in the GSA guidelines. The analysis model structures are a 22-story reinforced concrete moment frames with core wall building and a 44-story interior concrete core and exterior steel diagrid structure. The progressive collapse resisting capacities of the model structures were evaluated using the linear static, nonlinear static, and nonlinear dynamic analyses. The linear static analysis results showed that progressive collapse occurred in the 22-story model structure when an interior column was removed. However the structure turned out to be safe according to the nonlinear static and dynamic analyses. Similar results were observed in the 44-story diagrid structure. Based on the analysis results, it was concluded that, compared with nonlinear analysis procedures, the linear static method is conservative in the prediction of progressive collapse resisting capacity of building structure based on arbitrary column removal scenario.