Discussion about progressive collapse of masonry buildings

Most standards indicate the need of the evaluation of abnormal loads in the structural design, but in general, they do not provide many details about these actions and how to consider them in the design. The consequence of not considering these actions may be to the progressive collapse of the structure. This type of failure can be avoided by design of elements with sufficient robustness to control possible localized damage, ensuring adequate time for emergency measures to be taken. This work aims to discuss the progressive collapse and the behavior of masonry buildings subject to abnormal loads. An extensive literature review is carried out, highlighting the main procedures and strategies to mitigate this issue and the guidelines available in the standards. It is concluded that there is still an absence of works that deal with this kind of action in masonry buildings.

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