ABSTRACT
Design for accidental situations in the Eurocodes is implemented to avoid structural catastrophes. As a consequence, design for accidental design situations needs to be included mainly for structures for which a collapse may cause particularly large consequences in terms of injury to humans, damage to the environment or economic losses for the society. Risk reducing measures should be given high priority in design for accidental actions, and also be taken into account in design. The design philosophy necessitates that accidental actions are treated in a special manner with respect to load factors and load combinations. The initial kinetic energy of the colliding object can be transferred into many other forms of kinetic energy and into elastic-plastic deformation or fracture of the structural elements in both the building structure and the colliding object. In most cases the colliding object will respond by a mix of elastic deformations, yielding and buckling.
