Civil Engineering Association

Progressive Collapse of Bridges—As pects of Analysis and Design

It is shown that current design methods are inadequate to prevent progressive collapse. Definitions for the terms collapse resistance and robustness are proposed. An approach for designing against progressive collapse is suggested and a set of corresponding design criteria is presented. These include requirements, design objectives, design strategies, and verification procedures. In addition to the better-known design methods providing specific local resistance or alternate load paths, an approach based on isolation by compartmentalization is presented and discussed. It is found that the terms continuity, redundancy, and robustness should be carefully distinguished. The general concepts and findings presented here are applied to bridges.