Analysis and Evaluation of the Progressive Collapse Behaviour of a Cable Dome Structure

In this study, the progressive collapse behaviour of a cable dome structure was analysed and evaluated according to the importance of element. First, the dynamic response and collapse mode caused by the removal of different types of cables and struts from a cable dome structure were studied using the instantaneous unloading method of full dynamic equivalent load. Second, a method was developed for element importance classification based on collapse modes, and the importance coefficient was introduced after comparing the node displacements before and after the removal of different elements. On this basis, the correlations of the importance coefficient of an element with its importance classification and the collapse mode caused by its removal were examined. Third, the influences of some design parameters on the resistance of cable dome structures to progressive collapses and on the importance coefficients of components were analysed and evaluated. Finally, a method was proposed to determine the critical value of the element importance category. The results of this study indicated that Cable-Strut elements differed in their antiprogressive collapse effects and importance coefficients, and thus produced different dynamic responses and collapse modes when they were removed. Cable domes differed in their critical importance coefficients for Cable-Strut elements, and design parameters differed in their influence on the antiprogressive collapse resistance of cable domes.