Section 54 of 105
52. Node Last-to-Fail Principle
Stable section ID: S05-CON-014-SECTION-54 · 19 content blocks
Within the declared design envelope and controlled failure hierarchy, the Node shall not become the initiating or weakest failure point of the structural connection.
The preferred failure hierarchy shall protect:
- Occupants and workers.
- Global structural stability.
- The permanent Node.
- Protected primary Members.
- Adjacent building systems.
Where controlled inelastic behavior, overload protection, impact absorption, or seismic energy dissipation is required, the response should be concentrated in a declared, inspectable, and replaceable Cartridge or protective device.
The Node Last-to-Fail Principle shall require:
- Capacity hierarchy appropriate to the applicable load cases.
- Prevention of brittle Node failure.
- Protection against local stress concentrations.
- Consideration of combined and cyclic loading.
- Defined post-event inspection criteria.
- Detectable damage or deformation.
- Prevention of disproportionate collapse.
- A safe replacement or stabilization strategy.
This Principle does not claim that a Node can never fail under conditions beyond its verified capacity. It requires that Node failure shall not occur prematurely, unpredictably, or because a replaceable protective element was omitted.
Where extreme loading exceeds the intended hierarchy, residual capacity, warning, damage containment, and progressive-failure resistance shall be considered.