A computational methodology is presented for evaluating structural robustness against column loss. The methodology is illustrated through application to reinforced concrete (RC) frame buildings, using a reduced-order modeling approach for three-dimensional RC framing systems that includes the floor slabs. Comparisons with high-fidelity finite-element model results are presented to verify the approach. Pushdown analyses of prototype buildings under column loss scenarios are performed using the reduced-order modeling approach, and an energy-based procedure is employed to account for the dynamic effects associated with sudden column loss. Results obtained using the energy-based approach are found to be in good agreement with results from direct dynamic analysis of sudden column loss. A metric for structural robustness is proposed, calculated by normalizing the ultimate capacities of the structural system under sudden column loss by the applicable service-level gravity loading and by evaluating the minimum value of this normalized ultimate capacity over all column removal scenarios. The procedure is applied to two prototype 10-story RC buildings, one employing intermediate moment frames (IMFs) and the other employing special moment frames (SMFs). The SMF building, with its more stringent seismic design and detailing, is found to have greater robustness.
For more than 50 years, the technology of linear damage processes has been known and mastered. Strong, progressive damage processes have recently been discovered on various types of structures, for which a uniform theory has been unavailable. A common feature of these processes is the wide-band excitation of the dominant forces (ocean waves, storm, traf®c), a shift of the structural response spectrum into domains of higher excitation caused by degrading structural stiffness, as well as a damage-controlled self-adaptation phenomenon. Any numerical investigation of progressive damage phenomena should be based on the load-or time-evolution of the global stiffness matrix. The eigenvalues or natural frequencies of this stiffness matrix offer a decision basis regarding the damage-induced change of structural features.
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