Evaluation and comparison of different low-rise steel building systems for progressive collapse

Although progressive collapse is not a new subject in structural engineering, recent collapses have intensified the importance of this issue. Following the partial collapse of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995, the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Interagency Security Committee issued criteria documents ( ISC 2004) to establish construction standards for federal buildings vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

This study is intended to evaluate and compare the behavior of different steel building systems for progressive collapse per the latest guidelines from the GSA (GSA 2003) and the Department of Defense (DoD 2005), and making recommendations for design improvements. The evaluation is done through static nonlinear analysis of five 3-story steel frame building systems (Moment Resistant Frame (MRF), Concentrically Braced Frames (CBF) with X shape and chevron (V shape) braces, Eccentrically Braced Frame (EBF), and Vierendeel truss system) with a loss of one primary column in the exterior frame of plan longer direction using the commercially available computer program SAP2000.