Failure progression resistance of a generic steel moment-resisting frame under beam-removal scenarios

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the failure progression resistance of the steel moment-resisting frames subjected to various beam-removal scenarios after application of the design earthquake pertinent to the structure by investigating a generic eight-story building. Design/methodology/approach The structure is first pushed to arrive at a target roof displacement corresponding to life safety level of performance. To simulate the post-earthquake beam-removal scenario, one of the beam elements is suddenly removed from the structure at a number of different positions. The structural response is then evaluated by using nonlinear static and dynamic analyses. Findings The results show that while no failure is observed in all of the scenarios, the vulnerability of the upper stories is much greater than that of the lower stories. In the next step, the structural resistance to such scenarios is determined. The results confirm that for the case study structure, at most, the resistance to failure progression in upper stories is 58 percent more than that of lower stories. Originality/value Failure and fracture of beam-to-column connections resulting in removal of beam elements may lead to a chain of subsequent failures in other structural members and eventually lead to progressive collapse in some cases. Deficiency in design or construction process of structures when combined by application of seismic loads may lead to such an event.

Seismic performance assessment of deficient RC structures retrofitted with different steel bracing systems

“…These methods have emerged as the most popular methods for design or seismic analysis, and can be employed for a variety of representations to the evaluated structure and its elements (Ghazal and Mwafy, 2022). The widespread pushover analysis is a practical and effective approach to represent the inelastic deformation with adequate accuracy (Hashemi Rezvani et al, 2017), additionally, for their overall usability results, such as strength and stiffness of the building can be readily assessed (Saengyuan and Latcharote, 2022). Dynamic analysis can be used not only for the concept of new buildings but also for evaluating the behavior of existing buildings under seismic events.…”