Using Bracing Members to Reduce the Risk of Progressive Collapse in RC Buildings

Abstract

The Progressive collapse is a local failure which may cause the building to be severely damaged or entirely collapsed. Both US General Service Administration (GSA) and Unified Facility Criteria (UFC) have produced two different criteria to design new buildings and to check the safety of the existing structures against progressive collapse. The main objective of this article is to compare the results obtained by both linear static and nonlinear dynamic analysis methods suggested by GSA of a building originally designed according to the Egyptian Code of Practice, and to investigate the effect of adding bracing members in the first story to prevent the successive failure mode. The building has three bays in X-direction and two bays in Y-direction with seven stories. It was concluded that designing frames to sustain earthquakes, as well as adding bracing members in the perimeter of the first floor will enhance the structure behavior against progressive failure mode