USE OF CATENARY CABLES TO PREVENT PROGRESSIVE COLLAPSE OF BUILDINGS FINAL REPORT By Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, Ph.D., P.E. Erik A. Madsen Charles Noble Roger Jung David B. McCallen, Ph.D. Matthew S. Hoehler Wendy Li Ricky Hwa REPORT NUMBER: UCB/CEE-STEEL-2001/02 DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY Report to the Sponsors: General Services Administration / Skilling Ward Magnusson Barkshire September 11, 2001 1 In memory of those who perished on September 11, 2001 in terrorist attacks and dedicated to the firefighters, police and rescue workers who gave their lives to save others. USE OF CATENARY CABLES TO PREVENT PROGRESSIVE COLLAPSE OF BUILDINGS FINAL REPORT Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, Ph.D., P.E. Professor and Principal Investigator Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of California, Davis Hall Berkeley CA 94720-1710 Erik A. Madsen Master of Science Graduate Student Research Assistant University of California, Berkeley Charles Noble Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Roger Jung Master of Science Graduate Student Research Assistant University of California, Berkeley David B. McCallen, Ph.D. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Matthew S. Hoehler Master of Science Graduate Student Research Assistant University of California, Berkeley Wendy Li and Ricky Hwa Undergraduate Student Research Assistants Report to the General Services Administration and Skilling Ward Magnusson Barkshire REPORT NUMBER: UCB/CEE-STEEL-01/02 DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY First Draft of Final Report: September 11, 2001 This Final Version: April 2, 2002 2 Technical Report Documentation Page 1 Report No 2. Government Accession No. Recipient’s Catalog N UCB/CEE-STEEL-2001/02 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date USE OF CATENARY CABLES TO PREVENT September 12, 2001 PROGRESSIVE COLLAPSE OF BUILDINGS 6. Performing Organization Code 7. Authors 8. Performing Organization Report No. A. Astaneh-Asl, E. A. Madsen, C. Noble, R. Jung, UCB/CEE-STEEL-2001/02 D. B. McCallen, M. S. Hoehler, W. Li and R. Hwa 9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-1710 11. Contract or Grant No. Contract Number: ITS-xx699 Fax: A. Astaneh: (510) 643-5258, e-mail: [email protected] 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address 13. type of Report and Period Covered General Services Administration Final 15. Supplementary Notes The research reported herein was done in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of University of California, Berkeley and was sponsored by the General services Administration of U.S. Federal Government. The opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of California, Berkeley or the Sponsors. This document presents the results of the tests of a mechanism that can be used to prevent progressive and catastrophic collapse of steel structures in the event of a blast attack and elimination of one of the exterior columns. The concept that was tested and verified is proposed by the Skilling, Ward, Magnusson, Barkshire (SWMB), Structural and Civil Engineers, Seattle to be used in a new building. The concept consists of placing horizontal cables in the floors and on top of the top flange of the girders along the exterior column line. By using Catenary action of the cables, the load of the eliminated column can be transferred to the rest of the structure. The test specimen was full-scale representative of one floor of a typical steel building structure with its floor slab, steel deck, supporting beams, girders and columns. The specimen was designed by the SWMB and the test set-up was designed jointly by SWMB and UC-Berkeley engineers and researchers. The size of the specimen was 19'x60'x6'. The test plans consisted of constructing the specimen inside the UC-Berkeley, Civil Engineering laboratory in Davis Hall, adding instrumentation to the specimen, removing a middle column, pulling the bam-column joint of the removed column down, observing and collecting data on performance of the structure after removal of the column. A total of four tests were conducted which were 19.8-inch, 21-inch, 24-inch and 35-inch drop of column. The tests indicated that after removal of the column the Catenary action of the cable-supported floor was able to support 110 kips, 140 kips, 160 kips and 190 kips of column load respectively for 19, 21, 24 and 35 inches of drop of the column joint. These load values were based on using hydraulic actuator to apply the load. The corresponding gravity loads that could be applied to the column were 85, 108, 123 and 146 kips. 17. Key Words 18. Distribution Statement Steel Structures, Progressive Collapse, Blast-resistance, No restriction. This Document is available to the Cable-supported Structures, Connections, Testing. Public through the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1710 ([email protected]). 19. Security Classif. (of this Report) 20. Security Classif. (of this page) 21. No. of Pags 22. Price Unclassified Unclassified $40.00+ Applicable Sales Tax 3 ABSTRACT This document presents the results of the tests of a mechanism that can be used to prevent progressive and catastrophic collapse of steel structures in the event of a blast attack and elimination of one of the exterior columns. The concept that was tested and verified is proposed by the Skilling, Ward, Magnusson, Barkshire (SWMB), Structural and Civil Engineers, Seattle to be used in a new building. The concept consists of placing horizontal cables in the floors and on top of the top flange of the girders along the exterior column line. By using Catenary action of the cables, the load of the eliminated column can be transferred to the rest of the structure. The test specimen was full-scale representative of one floor of a typical steel building structure with its floor slab, steel deck, supporting beams, girders and columns. The specimen was designed by the SWMB and the test set-up was designed jointly by SWMB and UC- Berkeley engineers and researchers. The size of the specimen was 19'x60'x6'. The test plans consisted of constructing the specimen inside the UC-Berkeley, Civil Engineering laboratory in Davis Hall, adding instrumentation to the specimen, removing a middle column, pulling the bam-column joint of the removed column down, observing and collecting data on performance of the structure after removal of the column. A total of four tests were conducted which were 19.8-inch, 21-inch, 24-inch and 35-inch drop of column. The tests indicated that after removal of the column the Catenary action of the cable-supported floor was able to support 110 kips, 140 kips, 160 kips and 225 kips of column load respectively for 19, 21, 24 and 35 inches of drop of the column joint. 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The study reported here was supported by the General Services Administration (GSA) of U.S. Federal Government and by Skilling Ward Magnusson Barkshire (SWMB), Structural and Civil Engineers, Seattle. The authors wish to express their appreciation for the support as well as technical advice and input received from the GSA and SWMB engineers. Particularly, the support, technical input and comments received from Willie Hirano and Bela I. Palfalvi of GSA and Brian Dickson, Kurt Nordquist and Jon Magnusson of SWMB were very useful, essential to success of this project and are sincerely appreciated. However, the opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the sponsors, the University of California or other agencies and individuals whose name appear in this report. The tests reported here were conducted in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of California at Berkeley. The research was administered by capable and professional staff of the Institute of Transportation Studies, an Organized Research Unit of the University of California at Berkeley. Their support was very valuable and appreciated. William Mac Cracken, Dr. Lev Stepanov, Chris Moy, Frank Latoya, Larry Baker, Richard Parsons, Douglas Zulaica, Mark Troxler, all staff of the Department laboratories participated in development and in conducting the test as well as in data acquisition. Without their dedication and professional work, this project would not have been possible. Qiuhong Zhao, doctoral student, was involved in various aspects of this large scale testing. Her efforts are appreciated. Professor Yongkuan Zhao of Zhaoqing University of People’s Republic of China who was a visiting scholar to Professor Astaneh-Asl also contributed to this project significantly. Some members of the research team as well as Sponsors’ engineers are in Figure 0.1. Herrick Corporation of Stockton California fabricated the test specimen with diligence, on time and on budget and according to drawings and specifications. The efforts of Jamie Winens, project engineer with Herrick Corporation are sincerely appreciated. The steel deck used in the specimen was donated by Verco Manufacturing Co. The shear studs and their installation were donated by Nelson Stud Co. These generous donations are acknowledged and appreciated. 5 Figure 0.1. Members of Research Team with Sponsors’ Engineers (From Left: Y. Zhao, B. Dickson, W. Hirano, Q. Zhao, W. Li, C. Moy, W. Mac Cracken, E. Madsen and A. Astaneh-Asl) Disclaimer: The information presented in this publication has been prepared in accordance with recognized engineering principles and is for general information only. While it is believed to be accurate, this information should not be used or relied upon for any specific application without competent professional examination and verification of its accuracy, suitability, and applicability by a licensed professional engineer, designer or architect.