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A structure is subjected to progressive collapse when an element fails, resulting in failure of adjoining structural elements which, in their turn, cause further structural failure leading eventually to partial or total collapse. The failure of a primary vertical support might occur due to extreme loadings such as bomb explosion in a terrorist attack, gas explosion and huge impact of a car in the parking area. Different guidelines such as the General Services Administration (GSA 2003) and the Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC 2009) addressed the structural progressive collapse due to the sudden loss of a main vertical support. In the current study, a progressive collapse assessment according to the UFC guidelines is carried out for a typical ten-story reinforced concrete framed structure designed according to codes [(ACI 318-08) and (ASCE 7-10)] for minimum design loads for buildings and other structures. Fully nonlinear dynamic analysis for the structure was carried out using Applied Element Method (AEM). The investigated cases included the removal of a corner column, an edge column, an edge shear wall, internal columns and internal shear wall. The numerical analysis showed that simplification of the problem into 3D bare frames would lead to uneconomical design. It was found for the studied case that, the infilled masonry walls have a valuable contribution in mitigating progressive collapse of the reinforced concrete framed structures. Neglecting these walls would lead to uneconomical design.

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