Progressive collapse of structures: A discussion on annotated nomenclature

Abstract

The study of progressive collapse and structural robustness has advanced significantly after 9/11 event. There is a growing interest in the phenomenon, as well as in the development of numerical and experimental techniques that have led to great progress in understanding the structural robustness and integrity. However, the general ideas, concepts and definitions have been merely changed over the past twenty years. These concepts and definitions are first developed in the framework of a threat-independent methodology, implicitly focused on blast-induced progressive collapse (or other short-term extreme events) in framed structures, and then, generalized to other structural types, mechanisms and triggering events, without scrutinization. In this paper, the current definitions of the terms progressive collapse, initial (local) damage and progressive collapse analysis are challenged, their insufficiency is discussed and possible improvements are provided. The suggested definitions and discussions provide a deeper and more general nomenclature for progressive collapse and related topics.