Evaluation of Progressive Collapse of Special Steel Moment Frames

The point of this study was to assess the progressive collapse resisting capacity of special steel moment frame structures and the behaviour of buildings which have different height when they are losing one of their exterior columns. Two buildings were considered for this research, 7-storiy and 12-storiy buildings. Corner column as well as one of the middle columns was removed to evaluate the importance and the effect of the location of removed column in structural response. General Services Administration (GSA) and Department of Defence (DoD) guidelines are considered for choosing the method of analysis. Nonlinear dynamic analysis procedures were carried out to investigate the behavior of structures. Thus, maximum vertical displacement in the point of column removal for each structure was measured. In addition, both buildings have cover plate connections which are cosidered to be rigid in modelling.