Keywords: structural robustness, progressive collapse of RC buildings, corner column loss, horizontal tying, membrane action, diagonal reinforcement.

This short paper explores the potential enhanced activation of membrane forces within a floor system under the scenario of corner column loss via an alternative slab reinforcement arrangement, involving the placement of such reinforcement diagonal to the edges of the floor system. The activation of tensile membrane action is demonstrated via the comparison of high-fidelity numerical models against a novel analytical approach proposed for the assessment of tying resistance of floor systems under corner column loss. Initial outcomes demonstrate successful mobilisation of tensile membrane forces not only within a floor system with a diagonal reinforcement arrangement but also within a floor system with a standard reinforcement arrangement (i.e. parallel to the edges of the floor system), provided that the latter arrangement entails a continuous and orthogonal reinforcement mesh at both the top and bottom surfaces of the floor system. This encourages further research and validation to confirm the potential beneficial contribution from membrane effects to the resistance of floor systems under corner column loss, which is often conservatively neglected. The proposed analytical method also demonstrates to be a promising practical means to estimate the tying resistance of floor systems with diagonally arranged reinforcements, though the method as it currently stands presents some outstanding shortcomings, with further refinement of the method currently underway to address these shortcomings.

download the full-text of this paper (PDF, 8 pages, 321 Kb)

go to the previous paper
go to the next paper
return to the table of contents
return to the volume description