Modeling the Effect of RC Column Failure over the Frames

Abstract

The locally or entirely collapse of a structure triggered by failure of one or a couple elements can be considered as progressive collapse. New load distribution and additional loads may be created for the remaining elements of the frame. To accurately understand the progressive collapse mechanism, it is needed to accurate estimation of load distribution after failure of an element. The removal of a column and pushdown analysis is a widely used approach to evaluate the progressive collapse mechanism. However, in this study, effect of removal of three different columns on the frame are studied under two conditions; a) removal of column and pushdown analysis, b) loss on the axial capacity of column under cyclic loading. To axial capacity loss of reinforced concrete column, author’s previously developed axial capacity model is employed. A 2D three-story five-bay benchmark frame is analyzed under pushdown and quasi-static cyclic loading. Distribution of loads after failure of a column is investigated under six different scenarios.