Investigation of progressive collapse resistance and inelastic response for an earthquake-resistant RC building subjected to column failure

Following the linear static analysis procedure recommended by the US General Service Administration (GSA), the potential of an earthquake-resistant RC building for progressive collapse is evaluated in this study. Nonlinear static and nonlinear dynamic analyses are conducted to estimate the progressive collapse resistance of the building subjected to column failure. Under an approximate deflection demand, different collapse resistances are obtained. It indicates that different criteria for estimating the collapse resistance may be adopted for these two nonlinear analysis methods. The nonlinear static approach leads to a conservative estimation for the collapse resistance if “2.0” is used as the dynamic amplification factor (DAF). As the column-removed building is loaded into a significantly yielding phase, different assessed results are obtained by the linear static method and the nonlinear acceptance criterion suggested by the GSA guidelines. A DAF considering the inelastic dynamic effect may be needed in the GSA linear procedure. The capacity curve constructed from the nonlinear static analysis is shown to be capable of predicting the progressive collapse resistance and the DAF of a column-removed RC building.