Experimental Studies on Progressive Collapse Behavior of RC Frame Structures: Advances and Future Needs

In the recent two decades, the progressive collapse of reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures attracted unprecedented research interests in the structural engineering community. Experiments are regarded as an essential method in this field since actual cases can barely provide sufficient and effective data to support rigorous research. In this paper, prevailing experimental assumptions and configurations among over 100 series of experiments are quantitatively revealed by a bibliometric collection based on systematic search in an academic database. Since numerous experiments have been reported on the progressive collapse of RC frame structures, this paper subsequently presents a state-of-the-art review summarizing both experimental consensuses and controversies constituted by three main aspects: (a) static mechanisms, (b) dynamic behavior, and (c) threat-dependent research. The significance of secondary mechanisms, existing problems of dynamic effects, and potential flaws of the threat-independent assumption are discussed in detail with experimental findings. Future needs are emphasized on research targets, correlations between experiments and design, dynamic effects, threat-dependent issues, and retrofitting. These recommendations might help researchers or designers realize a more reliable and realistic progressive collapse design of RC frame structures in the future.