A Review on Progressive Collapse of Building Structures

Abstract

Progressive collapse of building structures is generally triggered by a local failure due to accidental actions, followed by subsequent chain effect of the structures which may result in wide range failure or even collapse of the entire buildings. Since the “911” event, progressive collapse of building structures has been widely concerned by engineers and researchers. This paper assesses the current researches on this issue from experimental study, numerical simulation and theoretical analysis. Given the limitation of costs and difficulties of experimental tests, the experimental studies investigate the collapse mechanism, such as development of stress/strain and damage/failure of materials, mainly via the scaled down specimens of structural components and substructures. On the other hand, the collapse behavior of entire building structures is analyzed via the numerical methods, such as the finite element method and the discrete element method. Further, the collapse resistance demand and the robustness assessment for building structures are theoretically studied in depth in which the simplified theoretical models of the collapse-resisting demand and the collapse risk assessment are proposed respectively. At last, the design method to prevent progressive collapse for building structures is also discussed.

Fragility and robustness analysis of a multistorey RC building

“…The collapse of a part of the Roman Point Tower in London on 16 May 1968 raised the level of interest in the study of progressive collapse. This was the reason for the introduction of this concept and the adoption of first technical regulations in Great Britain, in the early 1970s, and then in Canada [3] and the USA [4]. By 2010, the progressive collapse of several tall buildings led to major changes in regulations for the design of structures and their protection, as noted in [1].…”

A Pull-Down Dynamic Analysis of Two-Span Steel Frames Subjected to Progressive Collapse

“…In recent years, particularly after the events of September 11, 2001, many studies consisting of experimental programs and numerical studies have been conducted on progressive collapse of structures. Furthermore, the General Services Administration (GSA) (GSA, 2003) (Wang, Zhang, Li, & Yan, 2014) and Qian and Li (Qian Kai & Li Bing, 2015) have provided extensive reviews on this subject.…”

Progressive collapse evaluation in industrial building of existing production

“…In the 21 st century after the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, scientific interest to the problem of progressive collapse has greatly increased. Nowadays the greatest amount of research is carried out in China [2,3], the United States, Britain [4,5,6], as well as in Italy and Singapore…”