Bonded local prestressed concrete (BLPC) frames represent a structural form that combines long spans with prestressing and short spans without prestressing. Progressive collapse has become a focus of research in recent years, given the potential for severe consequences. BLPC frames exhibit distinct progressive collapse resistance compared to symmetrical structures due to their notable asymmetry. Therefore, this paper tested the behavior of two BLPC substructures and one unequal-span reinforced concrete (USRC) substructure against progressive collapse in the middle column removal scenario. The tests were conducted using displacement-controlled static loading, with the loading point situated at the top of the middle column. The test results demonstrate that the BLPC frame employs a two-stage mechanism to resist progressive collapse, comprising the beam-beam stage and the beam-link stage. Additionally, the frame exhibits a tri-fold failure mode. At the location of attachment of the short-span beam to the side column, the top rebars were found to be entirely fractured. At the junction of the reinforced and non-reinforced regions of longitudinal rebar in the long-span beam, a substantial crack developed, extending almost through. This indicates that the plastic hinge of the long-span beam appeared at the location where the longitudinal rebars were changed, rather than at the beam end. This paper also established a refined numerical model of the BLPC substructures based on LS-DYNA, and the modeling method was verified by comparison with the tests.
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