Progressive Collapse

of Buildings

Presentation for Seminar

in 3rd Semester
By:- Manthan Shah
(140080720012)
B.V.M ENGINEERING COLLEGE, Vallabh Vidyanagar

Back Ground

On May 16, 1968, in Newham, east

London, Ivy Hodge a tenant on the 18th
floor of the 22-story Ronan Point
apartment, struck a match in her kitchen.
The match set off a gas explosion that
knocked out load-bearing precast concrete
panels near the corner of the building.
The loss of support at the 18th floor caused
the floors above to collapse.
The impact of these collapsing floors set off
a chain reaction of collapses all the way to
the ground.
The corner bay of the building collapsed
from top to bottom. Mrs. Hodge survived
but four others died.

What it is...!

This was not a largest building disaster, but the magnitude of the collapse
was completely out of proportion to the triggering event.
This type of sequential, domino-effect failure was labelled
progressive Collapse.
This term is used to describe the spread of an initial local failure in a
manner analogous to a chain reaction that leads to partial or total
collapse of a building.
In progressive Collapse, the final state of failure is disproportionately
greater than the failure that initiated the collapse.
In general, the total damage to a building due to abnormal loading event
may be in proportion to the local damage caused by event or may be
disproportionate to it.
If the total damage is highly disproportionate to the local damage, it may
lead to a Progressive Collapse.

What it is...!

The disproportionate refers to the situation in which failure of one

member causes a major collapse, with a magnitude disproportionate to
the initial event.
Thus, progressive collapse is an incremental type of failure wherein the
total damage is out of proportion to the initial cause.
Progressive collapse is a catastrophic structural phenomenon that can
occur because of human-made and natural hazards.
It is similar to successive fall of cycles, in a cycle stand, when the first one
is pushed.
There are number of cases of progressive collapse of buildings during
construction also.

What it is...!

Generally, buildings are not designed for gas explosions, bomb explosions,
vehicular collisions, aircraft collisions, tornados etc.
Thus, when buildings are subjected to such abnormal loads, they may
sustain extensive damage.
Hence a designer should ensure safety at two levels, at local level and at
global level.
The local level safety can be ensured by designing the key structural
elements for abnormal loads, whereas global level safety can be ensured
by providing alternate load path in the structural system.
Examples of man made progressive collapse:

Definitions

Progressive collapse can be defined as collapse of all or a large part of a

structure collapsed by failure or damage of a relatively small part of it.
The General Services Administration (GSA, 2003b) offers a specific
description of the phenomenon: 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.
Based on ASCE 2005: progressive collapse is: The spread of local damage,
from an initiating event, from element to element resulting, eventually, in
the collapse of an entire structure or a disproportionately large part of it;
also known as disproportionate collapse.
Progressive collapse can simulated to the collapse of the Card House.

Causes of
Progressive Collapse

Progressive collapse of the building generally occurs under the abnormal

loads.
Abnormal loads usually act over a relatively short period of time in
comparison with ordinary design loads.
The potential abnormal loads that can trigger the progressive collapse can
be categorized as:

Uncontrolled Fire

Pressure Loads
Internal gas explosions
Blast
Wind over pressure
Extreme values of environmental loads

Causes of
Progressive Collapse

Impact Loads
Aircraft impact
Vehicular collision
Earthquake
Design and construction errors
Overload due to occupant misuse
Storage of hazardous materials

The Mechanism

Progressive collapse occurs when a structure has its loading pattern or

boundary conditions changed such that structural elements are loaded
beyond their capacity and fail.
Progressive collapse of building structures is initiated when one or more
vertical load carrying members (typically columns) are collapsed.
Once a column is failed the building's weight (gravity load) transfers to
neighbouring members in the structure.
If these members are not properly designed to resist and redistribute the
additional load that part of the structure fails.
The vertical load carrying elements of the structure continue to fail until
the additional loading is stabilized.
As a result, a substantial part of the structure may collapse, causing
greater damage to the structure than the initial impact as Shown in
Figure.

The Mechanism

Progressive Collapse Mechanism of Building

Collapse Due to Blast Load with Mechanism

Types of
Progressive Collapse

There are six different types of progressive collapse with different types of
mechanisms.
1. Pancake-type collapse
2. Zipper type collapse
3. Domino Type Collapse
4. Section type collapse
5. Instability type collapse
6. Mixed type collapse

Methods of Prevention

In general, there are three alternative approaches to designing structures

to reduce susceptibility to disproportionate collapse:
1. Redundancy or alternate load paths
In this approach, the structure is designed such that if any one
component fails, alternate paths are available for the load in that
component, preventing a general collapse from occurring.
In its most common application, design for redundancy requires
that a building structure be able to tolerate loss of any one
column without collapse.
2. Local resistance
Designing particular members for higher loads.
In this approach, critical components that are potential subjects
for attack and that are susceptible to progressive or
disproportionate collapse are provided with additional resistance.

Methods of Prevention
3.

Interconnection or continuity
This approach is a improvisation of the previous ones where, the
connections are provided more attention.
Studies of recent building collapses show that failure could have
been avoided or at least reduced in scale at little additional cost
if structural components had been interconnected more
effectively.

Design to Resist
Progressive Collapse

The two most frequently used design approaches intended to address the
issue of progressive collapse are:
1. Providing tying capacity
This ensures that beams, columns, connections and floor can act
together to provide a specified minimum level of horizontal tying
resistance.
The elements are designed with some more attention to provide
tying and interconnection.
2. Checking alternate load paths
It presumes the instantaneous loss of a single column and then
requires that the load is carried by an alternate paths.
These alternate paths should be analysed in advance.

Some Rendered Models

From Physics Simulations by Mody Motion on YouTube.com

References

Progressive Collapse Basics; by R. Shankar Nair, Ph.D., P. E., S. E.

Best Practices for Reducing the Potential for Progressive Collapse in
Buildings; US
Design of Building Structures to Improve their Resistance to Progressive
Collapse; D A Nethercot
PROGRESSIVE COLLAPSE ANALYSIS OF R.C. BUILDINGS; By Digesh D.
Joshi a dissertation thesis
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdiTXx3e55HrQepgWj2Tt3w

Thank You

Happy Independence Day

in Advance