Seismic progressive-failure analysis of tall steel structures under beam-removal scenarios

Investigating progressive collapse of tall structures under beam removal scenarios after earthquake is a complex subject because the earthquake damage acts as an initial condition for the subsequent scenario. An investigation is performed here on a 10 story steel moment resisting structure designed to meet the life safety level of performance when different beam removal scenarios after earthquake are considered. To this end, the structure is first subjected to the design earthquake simulated by Tabas earthquake acceleration. The beam removal scenarios are then considered at different locations assuming that both ends connections of the beam to columns are simultaneously detached from the columns; thus the removed beam falls on the underneath floor with an impact. This imposes considerable loads to the structure leading to a progressive collapse in all the scenarios considered. The results also show that the upper stories are much more vulnerable under such scenarios than the lower stories. Hence, more attention shall be paid to the beam-to-column connections of the upper stories during the process of design and construction.