The present paper gives a global overview on recent developments performed at the University of Liege on structural robustness of buildings for the specific scenario "loss of a column". In particular, a complete analytical method to assess the response of a 2D frame losing statically one of its columns is presented in details. This method is based on the development of alternative load paths in the damaged structure and takes into account the couplings between the different parts of the structure which are differently affected by the column loss. Also, the validation of the developed method through comparison to experimental and numerical evidences is presented.

SummaryThe present paper gives a global overview on recent developments performed at Liège University in the field of robustness of building structures for the specific scenario "loss of a column". In particular, the static non-linear response of a steel building structure following a column loss will be first presented and then, a global overview of some recent achievements and ongoing researches will be given with the global strategy aiming at deriving design requirements for practitioners.