Robustness of structures: State of art

Vulnerability of structures to progressive collapse and mitigation of the effects of local damages are topics widely discussed inside the scientific community. The progressive collapses that recently occurred due to terrorist attacks and the consequent huge loss of human lives, pointed towards the need for a newdesign criteria. A criteria that aims to design robust structures, i.e. structures able to withstand exceptional loads without being damaged to the extent disproportionate to the original cause. Event control, specific local resistance, redundancy, design of key elements, compartmentalization and detailing rules are some of the preventive strategies proposed by the recent studies and design standards. In this paper, the main facets of this problem are briefly illustrated. The approaches recommended by the standards, and in particular by the EN 1991-1-7, are presented.