ROBUSTNESS ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF STEEL-CONCRETE COMPOSITE BUILDINGS

Abstract

Research on robustness analyses of steel-concrete composite building structures has been performed with few simplifications in modelling of composite building components. This is because detailed modelling of the non-linear behaviour of composite building is often very tedious as it involves interaction between floor beams, slab and beam-to-column joint behaviour. The main objective of this study is to develop appropriate computational models to analyse the robustness of composite buildings under a column loss. The present study shows that fin plate connection is weaker than other connections, due to an unavoidable construction gap in fin plate connection and thus a modified fin plate connection is proposed. The simple braced frames are susceptible to the progressive collapse due to weak joints and thus various strengthening approaches are proposed to enhance the collapse resistance of simple braced frame. Then a simplified analytical method is developed using plastic hinge method to predict the response of 3D composite frame under loss of a column. Finally robustness of building subject to a ground blast explosion is investigated using both direct blast analysis and alternate path approach.