A “new” design requirement: the mitigation of the progressive collapse of buildings under exceptional loading

  • Jean-Pierre Jaspart Department ArGEnCo, Liège University
  • Jean-François Demonceau Jean-François Demonceau Department ArGEnCo, Liège University

Abstract

Recent events such as natural catastrophes or terrorism attacks have highlighted the necessity to ensure the structural integrity of buildings under an exceptional event. According to the Eurocodes and some different other national design codes, the structural integrity of civil engineering structures should be ensured through appropriate measures but, in most cases, no precise practical guidelines on how to achieve this goal are provided.
At Liège University, the robustness of building frames is investigated with the final objective to propose design requirements to mitigate the risk of progressive collapse considering the conventional scenario “loss of a column” further to an unspecified event. In particular, a complete analytical procedure has been developed for the verification of the robustness of steel or composite plane frames. For sake of simplicity, these first works have been based on the assumption that the dynamic effects linked to the column loss were limited and could therefore be neglected. More recently, complementary works have been carried out with the objective to address the dynamic effects. Besides that, the extension of the static procedure to actual 3D frames is under investigation in Liège. The present paper gives a global overview of the ongoing researches in the field of robustness at Liège University; in particular, the global strategy to derive design requirements is detailed.

References

Comeliau L (2009). Effects of the dynamic behaviour of steel structures further to a column loss (in French)”. Master thesis presented at Liège University, 2009 (freely downloadable at http://hdl.handle.net/2268/32284).

Comeliau L, Demonceau JF, Jaspart JP (2010). Robustness of steel and composite buildings under impact loading, Proceedings of SDSS Rio-2010 International Colloquium – Stability and Ductility of Steel Structures, Rio de Janeiro, pp. 393-400.

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Demonceau JF (2008). Steel and composite building frames: sway response under conventional loading and development of membrane effects in beams further to an exceptional action. PhD thesis presented at Liège University, (freely downloadable at http://orbi.ulg.ac.be/handle/2268/2740).

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Published
2014-03-27
How to Cite
Jaspart, J.-P., & Demonceau, J.-F. (2014). A “new” design requirement: the mitigation of the progressive collapse of buildings under exceptional loading. Journal of Building Materials and Structures, 1(1), 30-39. https://doi.org/10.34118/jbms.v1i1.6
Section
Original Articles