Vulnerability analysis of structures under loads based on the form

The robustness shows the ability of a structure to resist damage. For a structure small damage can lead to disproportionate consequences if it is not sufficiently robust. In this paper, the theory of structural vulnerability developed at the University of Bristol is applied to the analysis of vulnerable failure scenarios of the structure. The displacement response under unit force is used as a new measurement of the well-formedness to combine the theory with a standard response analysis and to identify the failure position of the structure under practical loads. Numerical analysis is carried out for vulnerable failure scenarios of a pin-jointed truss and a 24-member space frame. A comparison was made between the failure scenario of the structure due to the vulnerability analysis and the practical external loads. It is shown that this approach is efficient in the determination of the weakness and the failure position of structures under load actions.