Numerical Investigation of the Collapse of a Steel Truss Roof and a Probable Reason of Failure

Abstract

This study investigated the failure of the roof, with steel truss construction, of a factory building in Tekirdag in the northwestern part of Turkey. The failure occurred under hefty weather conditions including lightning strikes, heavy rain, and fierce winds. In order to interpret the reason for the failure, the effects of different combinations of factors on the design and dimensioning of the roof were studied. Finite element analysis, using the commercial software Abaqus (Dassault Systèmes, Vélizy-Villacoublay, France), was performed several times under different assumptions and considering different factors with the aim of determining the dominant factors that were responsible for the failure. Each loading condition gives out a characteristic form of failure. The scenario with the most similar form of failure to the real collapse is considered as the most likely scenario of failure. In addition, the factors included in this scenario are expected to be the responsible factors for the partial collapse of the steel truss structure.

Special Issue on “Buildings and Structures under Extreme Loads II”

“…The study in [13] starts from the analysis of the failure mechanism for a roof, with steel truss construction, of a factory building in the northwestern part of Turkey. The failure occurred under hefty weather conditions including lightning strikes, heavy rain, and fierce winds.…”

Numerical analysis of isolated end-flattened steel bars under compression in space trusses

“…In which, the resistance of a bar in compression, critical "Cr", with buckling about any axis is defined as Eqn. 16 given by.…”

“…It presents details of the connection system described above and illustrates the failures of some diagonal truss elements due to the characteristics aforementioned, with record of the first space truss collapse in Brazil in 1994. Failure due to instability of bars subjected to compression has resulted in progressive collapse of several lattice roofing systems around the world, as presented in the technical literature [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Some recent examples of global collapse of structural systems composed of bars subjected to compression are briefly presented.…”

Digital Twin‐Based Investigation of a Building Collapse Accident

“…Building collapse can be caused by several factors, making it difficult to identify the major causes [5][6][7][8]. Widely used building collapse investigation methods include (1) site-investigation methods [9,10] and (2) simulation-based methods [4,8]. Although widely used, these investigation methods are limited in more complex situations.…”