Experimental and analytical study of exterior beam-column joint for progressive collapse

• Main Author: Yap, Sim Lim.
• Other Authors: Li Bing
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering::Structures and design
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/18894
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The performance of building structures, especially so-called “iconic buildings” in blast conditions have been a major concern in metropolitan cities, especially with the recent surge in terrorist activities targeting public structures. For many urban settings, the proximity to unregulated traffic brings the terrorist threat to or within the perimeter of the building. In general, a terrorist attack may lead to failure to a small part of building. When an initial local failure causes the loss of gravity load capacity in the structural frame, the failure spreads from storey to storey which may lead to the total collapse of an entire building or a disproportionately large part of the building. This type of collapse is defined as “progressive collapse”. Beside structural elements such as beams and columns, research has shown that progressive collapses are commonly triggered by the failure of beam-column joints. Therefore it is of great importance to understand the failure of such subassemblages under progressive collapse. One particular type of beam-column joints of interest is the exterior beam-column joint, which will be the focus of this research. For this purpose, a series of test involving six exterior beam-column subassemblages were designed and tested at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The variables in test specimens will include the amount of joint transverse reinforcement and the lap splice details for column reinforcement. Monotonic loading will be applied on the sub-assemblages to simulate gravity loading on the damage structure in the lost of exterior column scenario.