The main research objectives of this Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) project are to: 1) review and evaluate the current progressive collapse design criteria and guidelines, 2) model and analyze an existing steel frame building following the current code provisions, and 3) conduct an experiment by removing three or four first-story columns and investigate the subsequent collapse or damage progress in the building. The availability of actual buildings that can be tested to collapse is very limited, so it is imperative that this opportunity be taken. A four-story steel frame building located on the Ohio State University campus will be modeled and analyzed to investigate its vulnerability against progressive collapse. As recommended by the current design guidelines and code standards, one corner column and several first-story perimeter columns will be cut and removed, and the ensuing structural response will be compared with that predicted from the computer simulation. Many researchers have conducted analytical studies to evaluate the effectiveness and consistency of the current progressive collapse design guidelines. However, very limited experimental research was performed to validate the results of those analytical studies and to verify the methodologies prescribed in the guidelines. This is mainly because it is usually difficult to construct and test full-scale building specimens and such large-scale testing is discouragingly expensive. As part of the experimental research, it will be possible to test a real four-story building scheduled for demolition. The test data will enable investigation of validity and effectiveness of the current guidelines and provide actual collapse behavior that can be used to validate collapse simulation.
The research will have significant impact, specifically on the new design and repair and strengthening of collapse-resistant building structures. In addition to providing much needed information on the experimental behavior of a real building after the removal certain load carrying elements or columns, the research results could be used to predict the collapse resistance of similar steel buildings with regular floor plans. The results from this experimental and analytical research program are likely to impact the current practice and guidelines developed for progressive collapse evaluation and design of buildings. The observed collapse failure mode from the test building will provide an indication of level of conservativeness of the current guidelines. Test results will be compared with the predicted response from simulations as part of the analytical investigation. Since there is very limited or no experimental collapse data from real buildings, the outcome of the research will have broad impacts on the structural engineering community, including researchers and practitioners. The validity of the current simplified analysis procedures will be verified using the test results. This will also provide an exceptional experience for undergraduate and graduate students who will be involved in the experiments.
