Retrofit strategies for Existing STructures against prOgRessive collapsE (RESTORE)

Man-made extreme events (i.e., terrorist attacks, impacts, explosions, and fires) can cause local damage to structures which may spread from element to element leading to the collapse of the entire structure or a large part of it, i.e., progressive collapse. These are among the most severe events in terms of casualties, economic losses, and societal impact, as has been made evident by several cases, e.g., the progressive partial collapse of the Champlain Towers in 2021.

The RESTORE project proposes an innovative framework to assess the progressive collapse risk of existing Steel and Reinforced Concrete (RC) buildings subjected to man-made hazards and design robustness- and resilience-enhancing solutions. The project investigates innovative retrofit solutions, including combinations of global and local interventions, aiming for a trade-off between benefits and drawbacks of both strategies, thus enabling effective retrofit interventions against multiple hazards. They will:

- ensure structural redundancy, mitigating progressive collapse risk against multiple-hazards (robustness)
- provide an alternative to the demolish-and-rebuild strategy, allowing for the re-use of existing structures and the reduction of environmental impact (sustainability and low CO2 emissions)
- have low invasiveness on the ordinary functions of the building during the installation (low business interruption)
- minimise the probability of collapse under extreme events (protection of human life)
- experience minimal damage that can be rapidly repaired (high resilience for strategic buildings)

The excellence of the research facilities and courses for young researchers of the host institution (UCL, ranked among the world's top 10 universities), the Supervisor's expertise, and the involvement in the project of academic partners and of a high-profile industrial collaborator (ARUP) guarantee a high scientific value, the completion of the project and the exploitation of the achieved results in practice.