Best practices and design criteria for minimising the potential for progressive collapse in steel structures

Abstract

Prevention of progressive collapse is generally acknowledged to be an imperative in structural engineering today. This dissertation presents a deep insight of what the current standards and codes of practice recommend with regards to progressive collapse. The overriding goal is to produce a valid analytical computer model that is capable of assessing the ability of a representative floor plate to resisting progressive collapse. Three different models are presented and these are analysed after removal of a number of supports/columns. The results recorded are various distributions of axial forces developed across the plane of each model. The results are examined and the validity and level of accuracy of each model is questioned. The results are also compared to the standards available and the validity of current standards is also questioned. The results show the importance of an engineer to make use of a viable analytical model in order to assess the performance of a building in the event of extreme or accidental loads. Most design standards suggest the use of an analytical model but they make no mention of what type of model should be used. The main outcome of the study is the conclusion that any analytical computer model used should be justified by good engineering judgment prior to the application of any design solutions.