Progressive collapse of reinforced concrete structures

Who:
Bing Li - Ph.D CEng MIStructE MIPENZ
Dr Li is Director of Natural Hazard Research Centre, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

When:
Tuesday 29th May 2012; 5:30pm, Room 3.404 at the School of Engineering, University of Auckland,

Abstract:
The vulnerability of conventional non-seismically detailed reinforced concrete building structures due to loss of columns has been emphasized during the past years. The lack of corresponding experimental tests has led to gap in the knowledge for the design of reinforced concrete structures to mitigate the potential of progressive collapse due to loss of ground storey column by extreme loading. This talk provides an overview of assessing the Collapse Risk of Singapore's Existing Reinforced Concrete Frame Structures. These investigations attempt to gain understanding on the behaviour of reinforced concrete substructures when subjected to the loss one of its ground column scenarios in order to improve the state of the art of protective design. . The results of this study can be used to form a basis for the understanding of the behaviour of RC structures for progressive collapse.

Biography:
Dr Li is Director of Natural Hazard Research Centre, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. His research interests are in reinforced concrete and precast concrete structures, particularly in design for earthquake and blast resistance. Dr Li has worked on a variety of consulting projects involving high-rise building structures, risk assessment and mitigation for hazards such as terrorist attacks and earthquakes to government agencies, building owners, corporations and international engineering firms in Singapore and Hong Kong.