Numerical study of progressive collapse in framed structures: A new approach for dynamic column removal

Progressive collapse is a situation where local failure of a primary structural component leads to the collapse of adjoining members which, in turn, leads to additional collapse. Hence, the total damage is disproportionate to the original cause. The most common local failure in framed structure is assumed to be column failure. In this paper, a new approach for dynamic column removal in framed structures was proposed. Using this approach, the structural response of a 5-story steel frame building under the sudden loss of columns for different scenarios of column removal was numerically assessed. Both material and geometric nonlinearities were taken into account in the analysis. The modeling techniques were described in details. Special emphasis was focused on the evolution of vertical displacements of column removal point. According to the results progressive collapse potential are strongly dependent on location of column loss. It could be concluded that the proposed approach offers the advantages of computational simplicity and practicality for dynamic column removal of framed structures.