doi:10.3850/978-981-07-7136-2_301
How to Improve Resistance to Progressive Collapse When Designing Steel and Composite Buildings
Professor David A. Nethercot
OBE, FREng, FTSE Emeritus Professor
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Imperial College London, UK
Email: d.nethercot@imperial.ac.uk
Biography
Prof. David Nethercot OBE, FREng, was for 12 years until the autumn of 2011 the Head of Department and is now Professor Emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London; he was also Deputy Principal of the Engineering Faculty with particular responsibility for teaching. Previously, he was on the staff at Cardiff, Sheffield and Nottingham Universities, including five years as Head of Department at Nottingham.
He was awarded a DSc degree in 1993 and elected to the Royal Academy of Engineering in that same year. He is a past President of the Institution of Structural Engineers and a former Council Member of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In 2006 he was awarded an OBE for services to Structural Engineering; the 2008 Charles Massonet Prize from ECCS and in 2009 the IStructE Gold Medal. In 2010 he was elected as a Foreign Fellow of the Academy of Technical Sciences and Engineering of Australia.
For more than 40 years he has been active in research, teaching and advisory work in the area of steel structures. He is the author of more than 400 technical papers, including 10 that have won Institution prizes. A member of the BSI committee responsible for the UK Steel Buildings Code for more than 25 years, he chaired the committee for 10 years. During that time he lectured on more than 200 specialist courses for industry, wrote 5 textbooks, contributed to 5 design guides and wrote 5 chapters of the Steel Designer’s Manual.
He has supervised over 40 PhD students to completion, been responsible for a similar number of externally funded projects, and spoken as a keynote speaker in more than 50 countries.
Abstract
Several well publicised examples of progressive collapse e.g. Ronan Point, World Trade Centre and Murragh Building, have heightened the concerns of owners, designers and users about the need to address robustness as a design requirement. Unsurprisingly, this has led to much research into the subject with the aim of: firstly, understanding the mechanics of progressive collapse and then using this to provide better guidance on how to ensure adequate resistance.Much of the former has comprised numerical studies of particular features, whilst the, all important, translation of research findings into practical guidance has yet to progress much beyond prescriptive rules. Thus, when a designer is confronted with the question: How can I ensure that my design is adequately robust?, or, more pertinently: How can I enhance the robustness of my (largely completed) design?, there is little available that is directly useful. Using findings developed from a 10 year programme of research at Imperial College London, this presentation will focus on the key structural properties and features of practical arrangements that are of most influence in determining resistance to progressive collapse and will present a strategy for making realistic and effective design interventions. These are illustrated for both steel and composite frames and cover structures designed for both seismic and non seismic locations. The emphasis is on the process that should be followed to ensure that minimum practical modifications achieve maximum benefit.
