Probabilistic Evaluation of Progressive Collapse Resistance of Truss String Structures Considering Structural Uncertainties

Truss string structures (TSSs) are often prone to the risk of progressive collapse owing to critical member failures in accidental events. Moreover, the randomness of material properties, cross-sectional dimensions, and construction errors can inevitably lead to fluctuations in the collapse resistance of structures. Thus, to avoid catastrophic collapse of TSSs, it is essential to investigate the resistance to progressive collapse of TSSs considering structural uncertainties. In this study, three limit states of TSSs under key member failures are defined. In addition, a probabilistic evaluation methodology for the progressive collapse resistance of single TSSs considering structural uncertainties is proposed and extended to spatial TSSs. The analysis reveals that the external load of single or spatial TSSs reaching different limit states due to cable failure is less than that of the failure of the bottom chord of the support. Furthermore, the fragility analysis shows that the progressive collapse resistance of TSSs exposed to the failure of the bottom chord of the support is greater than that of cable failure, the cable failure should be given more attention than the failure of the bottom chord of the support in the structural design and post-maintenance of TSSs. The sensitivity analysis indicates that the performance of single TSSs against progressive collapse is more sensitive to the variability of random parameters. In addition, the spatial effect can considerably enhance the performance of TSSs against progressive collapse when the bottom chord of the support fails, whereas the improvement is marginal when the cable fails.