Design against Explosions and Subsequent Progressive Collapse

Abstract Today, terrorist attacks with explosive devices are no longer restricted to areas of conflicts. One consequence of this is that security issues have, especially in cities, become more and more important. Therefore, urban planners have to consider security as an additional subject in their work. This was the starting point for the research project VITRUV. Within this project, one important task was to analyse the structural safety of typical urban infrastructures during and directly after an explosion. From the structural engineering point of view, not only the direct effects of an explosion but also the consequences of a possible progressive collapse initiated by the explosion have to be accounted for. The results of the research work are twofold. First, the known methods of direct design and alternative load path are combined in one holistic procedure. Second, the theoretical failure of one column when designing a building to resist progressive collapse is not valid for explosive loadings.