Estimation of safe stand off distances for r.c. framed buildings

Byfield, M. P. and Sakthivel, tbc (2009) Estimation of safe stand off distances for r.c. framed buildings. 13th International Symposium on Interaction of the Effects of Munitions with Structures (13th ISIEMS), Bruehl, Germany. 10 - 14 May 2009.

Abstract

This paper discusses the assessment of blast load and its effect on reinforced concrete framed buildings. Using the direct solution of the multi-degree of freedom equations of motion, a method for analyzing r.c. columns is presented.
The work demonstrates that solutions achieved using single degree of freedom equations of motion can underestimate the shear force in columns by as much as 50%. This finding is of importance with regard to robustness assessments of buildings carried out using TM5-1300. A method for estimating the safe stand off distance for reinforced concrete columns is presented together with application against the Murrah building collapse, by way of a case study.
The Murrah Building collapse has been widely attributed to the use of transfer girders at the third floor level. The building is reanalyzed with a more conventional arrangement of beams and columns and the results show that a substantial progressive collapse could have occurred even if a transfer girder had not been used.

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Contributors

Author: M. P. Byfield

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