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Structure and Infrastructure Engineering: Maintenance, Management, Life-Cycle Design and Performance Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/nsie20
Progressive collapse of structures Franco Bontempi
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School of Engineering, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’, Rome, Italy Published online: 18 Jan 2011.
To cite this article: Franco Bontempi (2011) Progressive collapse of structures, Structure and Infrastructure Engineering: Maintenance, Management, Life-Cycle Design and Performance, 7:4, 323-323, DOI: 10.1080/15732479.2010.532635 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15732479.2010.532635
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Structure and Infrastructure Engineering Vol. 7, No. 4, April 2011, 323
BOOK REVIEW
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Progressive collapse of structures, by Uwe Starossek, Thomas Telford Publishing, 2009, 168 pp., $98.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-7277-3610-9 The progressive collapse of structures is characterised by a disproportion between a comparatively minor event or local failure and the ensuing widespread collapse. Different structural systems exhibit different degrees of susceptibility to progressive collapse and such differences are largely neglected in modern design procedures based on reliability theory. This book is the first one to provide clear and comprehensive guidance on this subject, offering a consistent set of terminology and procedures that structural engineers can apply in design practice. The book is essentially divided in two main parts. In the first one, after the introduction, a chapter is devoted to the classification of the different typologies of progressive collapses (pancake-, zipper-, domino-, section- instability- and mixed-type collapse) and to different aspects connected with material and geometrical properties of different structural systems; another chapter to a critical overview of the current design procedures. Just these considerations lead to the second part of the book. Here, specific considerations for the design against progressive collapses are generally introduced in one chapter, while specific design aspects (alternative load paths, isolation by segmentation, redundancy
ISSN 1573-2479 print/ISSN 1744-8980 online DOI: 10.1080/15732479.2010.532635 http://www.informaworld.com
versus segmentation, prevention or assumption of local failure) are presented in the following one. All these concepts are enlightened by means of a subsequent chapter devoted to different applications. In this way, finally, the reader can learn how to measure and judge structural robustness and collapse resistance. The book is written by an internationally wellknown expert on the field, who started to become involved with the topic of this book almost 20 years ago when he was charged with the progressive collapse analysis and design of the Confederation Bridge in Canada. When entering academia, a few years later, the author had the opportunity to reflect on the previous work and to develop it furthermore into formalised and generally applicable concepts. In summary, this book is successful in its goal of providing a plain and comprehensive introduction to the phenomenon of progressive collapse, a consistent and generally applicable set of nomenclatures and procedures, a guidance to the practising engineer in both systematic and pragmatic manners, and to give an outlook on future developments. Franco Bontempi School of Engineering University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ Rome, Italy Email:
[email protected] Ó 2011 F. Bontempi
