Mitigating Risk from Abnormal Loads and Progressive Collapse

A progressive collapse initiates as a result of local structural damage and develops, in a chain reaction mechanism, into a failure that is disproportionate to the initiating local damage. Such collapses can be initiated by many causes. Changes in building practices to address low probability/high consequence events and to lessen building vulnerability to progressive collapse currently are receiving considerable attention in the professional engineering community and in standard-writing groups in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. Procedures for identifying and screening specific threat scenarios, for assessing the capability of a building to withstand local damage without a general structural collapse developing, and for assessing and mitigating the risk of progressive collapse can be developed using concepts of probabilistic risk assessment. This paper provides a framework for addressing issues related to low probability/high consequence events in building practice, summarizes strategies for progressive collapse risk mitigation, and identifies challenges for implementing general provisions in national standards such as ASCE Standard 7, Minimum design loads for buildings and other structures.

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