Evaluation and Enhancement of Robustness for Reinforced Concrete Buildings
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 148, Issue 1
Abstract
Since the events of September 11, 2001, the engineering community has devoted increased attention to evaluating the vulnerability of multistory buildings to disproportionate collapse, including substantial research and standards development. This paper reviews recent research conducted by the NIST on the robustness of RC buildings, including experimental validation of both high-fidelity and reduced-order modeling approaches using measurements from subsystems and an entire building tested under column removal scenarios. A robustness index was developed using pushdown analysis of a structure with initial damage to allow an evaluation and comparison of the disproportionate collapse potential of various structural systems using the validated modeling approaches. It is shown that the robustness index is sensitive to differences in the strength and detailing of the structural system, providing higher values for buildings with more stringent design requirements. Further, the paper presents a novel approach for enhancing the robustness of RC beams through local debonding of tensile reinforcing bars at the joints, where significant cracking occurs after a column loss. Experimental and computational studies were conducted to demonstrate the efficacy of this approach. It is shown that debonding of the bottom bars for a length of two beam depths on each side of a central column results in an improvement of more than 30% in the peak vertical load-carrying capacity under a column removal scenario.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
Disclaimer
Certain commercial entities, equipment, software, or materials may be identified in this document in order to describe an experimental procedure or concept adequately. Such identification is not intended to imply recommendation or endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, nor is it intended to imply that the entities, materials, or equipment are necessarily the best available for the purpose.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 148 • Issue 1 • January 2022
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 5, 2021
Accepted: Aug 27, 2021
Published online: Oct 29, 2021
Published in print: Jan 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Mar 29, 2022
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