Effect of Viscoelastic Dampers on Progressive Collapse Resistance of RC Building

Abstract

Natural as well as man-made hazards may cause the failure of the primary load bearing members of buildings. The spread of an initial local failure from element to element, eventually result into the collapse of an entire structure or a large part of it, which is known as Progressive Collapse. Progressive collapse initiates when one or more primary load bearing elements get fails causing failure of the entire structure. It is important to mitigate potential of progressive collapse which may lead to catastrophic damages, loss of natural resources as well as human lives. The aim of this study is to reduce the potential of progressive collapse of building using energy dissipation devices. Passive energy dissipation devices like viscoelastic dampers are primarily used to reduce the displacement during earthquakes. In the present study, effect of viscoelastic dampers on progressive collapse resistance of 4-storey Reinforced Concrete (RC) frame is evaluated. Nonlinear Static (Push Down) analysis is performed by following U.S. General Service Administration (GSA) guidelines and Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC 4-023-03) published by Department of Defense (DoD) for evaluating progressive collapse potential. Modeling and analysis is carried out using SAP2000 for two different column removal scenarios. From the analysis results, it is observed that viscoelastic dampers contributes in load resistance and enhances the performance of building during progressive collapse scenario.

Keywords: Progressive Collapse, Reinforced Concrete Frame, Viscoelastic dampers, Nonlinear Static Analysis, Column Removal Scenario