Experimental and analytical progressive collapse assessment of a steel frame building

A field experiment and numerical simulations were performed to investigate the progressive collapse potential of an existing steel frame building. Four first-story columns were physically removed from the building to understand the subsequent load redistribution within the building. Experimental data from the field tests were used to compare and verify the computational models and simulations. Due to the scarcity of data from full-scale tests, the experimental data produced during this research is a valuable addition to the state of knowledge on progressive collapse of buildings. The progressive collapse design guidelines typically recommend simplified analysis procedures involving instantaneous removal of specified critical columns in a building. This paper investigates the effectiveness of such commonly used progressive collapse evaluation and design methodologies through numerical simulation and experimental data.