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The effect of partial distributed damage on the progressive collapse mechanisms and collapse loads of high-rise steel buildings

Recent research work has focused on the progressive collapse analysis of structures initiated by an extreme loading event such as terrorist attack, blast, fire or impact. Attempts to assess the structural vulnerability are most commonly made by simulating this extreme event as damage introduction in the form of sudden element removal. Although this notion (referred to as Alternate Path Method) offers practical simplicity, it is far from being realistic, mainly due to nature of the abnormal loads that will cause non-negligible damage to more than one elements in their vicinity. This paper investigates the behavior of a high-rise steel moment frame through the application of a new partial distributed damage method (PDDM) and a damage index δj. A detailed finite element model built by the authors is utilized to examine the damage propagation for damage scenarios of multiple adjacent columns, while comparisons to complete column loss scenarios are presented. Nonlinear computational techniques that account for loss of stability phenomena are employed in order to establish the sensitivity of the progressive collapse mechanisms and collapse loads to partial distributed damage.

Author(s):

Jenny Sideri    
Columbia University
United States

Simos Gerasimidis    
Columbia University
United States

George Deodatis    
Columbia University
United States