Extreme response of reinforced concrete buildings through fiber force-based finite element analysis

Abstract Recent events showed that buildings designed according to conventional codes are not necessarily able to resist man-made extreme events such as impact or explosions. In the past, safety against disproportionate collapse of key elements has been increased by non-structural protective measures such as barriers, sacrificial elements and limitation or control of public access. Codified procedures emerged in the last decade asking for resistant structural design methodologies to inhibit failure incidents acting on structural components performance. This paper presents an open access procedure using a fiber-based model in order to reproduce the progressive collapse of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings subjected to blast loading in an urban environment that leads to the loss of one or more bearing elements. Member removal in this fashion represents an event that happens when extreme situations or abnormal loads destroy the member itself. Two- and three-dimensional models of frame structures have been created and compared using three different numerical tools: an open source program such as OpenSees and two different commercial codes, SeismoStruct and Ls-Dyna. The first two are more classical fiber-based software, while the last one is a well-established general purpose finite element (FE) package. Removal of critical elements is assumed to occur in the building studied and a special purpose routine has been developed, within OpenSees and SeismoStruct, to create a fiber model capable of simulating overall structural response due to their failure. In this computational routine, one or more vertical members are instantaneously removed from the model and the ability of the building to successfully absorb member loss is investigated. The results obtained have been compared and validated by using the transient dynamic FE program Ls-Dyna. The numerical and modeling outcome of this research on progressive collapse behavior of RC buildings may be immediately applied to the design, vulnerability assessment and strengthening of different structural typologies ranging from residential frames to strategic and military facilities.

[1]  David A. Nethercot,et al.  Progressive collapse of multi-storey buildings due to sudden column loss—Part II: Application , 2008 .

[2]  Casarotti Chiara,et al.  Seismic response of continuous span bridges through fiber-based finite element analysis , 2006 .

[3]  Edward Cohen,et al.  Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures , 1990 .

[4]  Eric B. Williamson,et al.  Beam element formulation and solution procedure for dynamic progressive collapse analysis , 2004 .

[5]  A. J. Pretlove,et al.  Dynamic effects in progressive failure of structures , 1991 .

[6]  Hong Hao,et al.  A new method for progressive collapse analysis of RC frames under blast loading , 2010 .

[7]  Gian A. Rassati,et al.  Response of partially-restrained bolted beam-to-column connections under cyclic loads , 2014 .

[8]  L. Ye,et al.  An improved tie force method for progressive collapse resistance design of reinforced concrete frame structures , 2011 .

[9]  Timothy J. Sullivan,et al.  Equivalent viscous damping for steel concentrically braced frame structures , 2011 .

[10]  Tan Kang Hai,et al.  Membrane actions of RC slabs in mitigating progressive collapse of building structures , 2013 .

[11]  Kyungkoo Lee,et al.  Simplified nonlinear progressive collapse analysis of welded steel moment frames , 2009 .

[12]  Hyun-Su Kim,et al.  Development of integrated system for progressive collapse analysis of building structures considering dynamic effects , 2009, Adv. Eng. Softw..

[13]  Michael H. Scott,et al.  Krylov Subspace Accelerated Newton Algorithm: Application to Dynamic Progressive Collapse Simulation of Frames , 2010 .

[14]  N. P. Kripakov,et al.  ADINA applied toward simulation of progressive failure in underground mine structures , 1995 .

[15]  Mohamed M. Talaat,et al.  Computational modeling of progressive collapse in reinforced concrete frame structures , 2007 .

[16]  Antonio Nanni,et al.  Failure Modeling of Bridge Components Subjected to Blast Loading , 2007 .

[17]  Enrico Spacone,et al.  FIBRE BEAM–COLUMN MODEL FOR NON‐LINEAR ANALYSIS OF R/C FRAMES: PART I. FORMULATION , 1996 .

[18]  Mehrdad Sasani,et al.  Response of a reinforced concrete infilled-frame structure to removal of two adjacent columns , 2008 .

[19]  Gian A. Rassati,et al.  Numerical simulation of gusset plate connections with rectangular hollow section shape brace under quasi-static cyclic loading , 2012 .

[20]  Thomas J. R. Hughes,et al.  Nonlinear finite element analysis of shells: Part I. three-dimensional shells , 1981 .

[21]  Shalva Marjanishvili,et al.  Progressive Analysis Procedure for Progressive Collapse , 2004 .

[22]  Sashi K. Kunnath,et al.  Macromodel-Based Simulation of Progressive Collapse: Steel Frame Structures , 2008 .

[23]  Mjn Priestley,et al.  VISCOUS DAMPING IN SEISMIC DESIGN AND ANALYSIS , 2005 .

[24]  Philippe Bouillard,et al.  Progressive Collapse: Comparison of Main Standards, Formulation and Validation of New Computational Procedures , 2008 .

[25]  Meng-Hao Tsai,et al.  Investigation of progressive collapse resistance and inelastic response for an earthquake-resistant RC building subjected to column failure , 2008 .

[26]  T. Paulay,et al.  Seismic Design of Reinforced Concrete and Masonry Buildings , 1992 .

[27]  E. Smyrou,et al.  Implementation and verification of a masonry panel model for nonlinear dynamic analysis of infilled RC frames , 2011 .

[28]  David W. Murray,et al.  Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis of Steel Frames , 1983 .

[29]  Rui Pinho,et al.  Modelling Issues on Seismic Assessment of Irregular RC Structures , 2011 .

[30]  J. Mander,et al.  Theoretical stress strain model for confined concrete , 1988 .

[31]  Uwe Starossek,et al.  Progressive Collapse of Structures , 2009 .

[32]  S. H. Perry,et al.  Compressive behaviour of concrete at high strain rates , 1991 .

[33]  Lorenza Petrini,et al.  A Critical Review of the R.C. Frame Existing Building Assessment Procedure According to Eurocode 8 and Italian Seismic Code , 2008 .

[34]  Asif Usmani,et al.  How did the WTC towers collapse: a new theory , 2003 .

[35]  Hartanto Wibowo,et al.  Seismic Progressive Collapse: Qualitative Point of View , 2009 .

[36]  John Vantomme,et al.  Investigation of the influence of design and material parameters in the progressive collapse analysis of RC structures , 2011 .

[37]  Fahim Sadek,et al.  Progressive collapse analysis of seismically designed steel braced frames , 2009 .

[38]  Bernd Möller,et al.  Structural collapse simulation under consideration of uncertainty - Improvement of numerical efficiency , 2008 .

[39]  Theodor Krauthammer,et al.  Blast-resistant structural concrete and steel connections , 1999 .

[40]  Bibiana Luccioni,et al.  Analysis of building collapse under blast loads , 2004 .

[41]  Y. J. Kang.  Nonlinear geometric, material and time dependent analysis of reinforced and prestressed concrete frames , 1977 .

[42]  Daigoro Isobe,et al.  Seismic Collapse Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Framed Structures Using the Finite Element Method , 2003 .

[43]  Bernd Möller,et al.  Structural collapse simulation under consideration of uncertainty - Fundamental concept and results , 2008 .

[44]  Hamid Valipour,et al.  Finite element modelling of reinforced concrete framed structures including catenary action , 2010 .

[45]  Gian Michele Calvi,et al.  Review of Design Parameters of Concentrically Braced Frames with RHS Shape Braces , 2009 .