Improved Applied Element Simulation of RC and Composite Structures Under Extreme Loading Conditions

During the past decade, increasing attention has been focused on the design of buildings to resist progressive collapse. To obtain full knowledge of the total behavior of structures under extreme loading conditions, it is essential to simulate the collapsing process and the trace of yielding, damage and deformation at each structural member. Reliable numerical models are highly required as a cost effective method of obtaining a comprehensive knowledge of the main parameters that affect the response of structures. Simulation of the collapse mechanism requires an advanced technology to accurately predict member instability, failure evaluation, rupture of member joints and impact force of the falling debris. Recently, the improved applied element method (IAEM) has been introduced to simulate the total behavior of large-scale steel towers with high accuracy and low computational effort. However, its application was limited to structures with homogeneous material. In this paper, a new improvement to the IAEM is introduced to develop a novel numerical simulation analysis of failure and collapse of RC and composite structures under hazardous loads. With the new method, structures with homogenous and nonhomogenous materials such as steel, RC and composite can be simulated with high accuracy. The proposed technique takes into account geometric and material nonlinearities. The reliability of the code is investigated by comparing its results with existing experimental and numerical results. Results show that a good agreement between the analytical and the experimental results can be obtained in a less computational time.