• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.955-967
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• 2014

Storage racks are used worldwide in industries and commercial outlets due to the advantage of lighter, faster erection and easy alteration of pallet level as required. The studies to understand the behaviour of cold formed steel pallet racks, under seismic action is one of the emerging area of research. The rack consists of perforated uprights and beams with hook-in end connector, which enables the floor height adjustments. The dynamic characteristics of these racks are not well established. This paper presents the dynamic characteristics of 3-D single bay two storey pallet rack system with hook-in end connectors, which is tested on shake table. The sweep sine test and El Centro earthquake acceleration is used to evaluate the seismic performance of the cold formed steel pallet racks. Also an attempt is made to evaluate the realistic dynamic characteristics by using STAAD Pro software. Modal analysis is performed by incorporating the effective moment of inertia of the upright, which considers the effect of presence of perforations and rotational stiffness of the beam-to-upright connection to determine the realistic fundamental frequency of pallet racks, which is required for carrying out the seismic design. Finite element model of the perforated upright section has been developed as a cantilever beam through which effective moment of inertia is evaluated. The stiffness of the hook-in connector is taken from the previous study by Prabha et al. (2010). The results from modal analysis are in good agreement with the respective experimental results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.1-19
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• 2019

The aim of the paper is the prediction of the seismic collapse mode of steel storage pallet racks under seismic loads. The attention paid by the researchers on the behaviour of the industrial steel storage pallets racks is increased over the years thanks to their high dead-to-live load ratio. In fact, these structures, generally made by cold-formed thin-walled profiles, present very low structural costs but can support large and expensive loads. The paper presents a prediction of the seismic collapse modes of multi-storey racks. The analysis of the possible collapse modes has been made by an approach based on the kinematic theorem of plastic collapse extended to the second order effects by means of the concept of collapse mechanism equilibrium curve. In this way, the dissipative behaviour of racks is determined with a simpler method than the pushover analysis. Parametric analyses have been performed on 24 racks, differing for the geometric layout and cross-section of the components, designed in according to the EN16618 and EN15512 requirements. The obtained results have highlighted that, in all the considered cases, the global collapse mechanism, that is the safest one, never develops, leading to a dangerous situation that must be avoided to preserve the structure during a seismic event. Although the studied racks follow all the codes prescriptions, the development of a dissipative collapse mechanism is not achieved. In addition, also the variability of load distribution has been considered, reflecting the different pallet positions assumed during the in-service life of the racks, to point out its influence on the collapse mechanism. The information carried out from the paper can be very useful for designers and manufacturers because it allows to better understand the racks behaviour in seismic load condition.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.457-469
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• 2019

Steel pallet racking industry has globally used from the industrial revolution and has deeply evolved from hot-rolled profile into cold-formed profile to raise the optimization in engineering field. Nowadays, some studies regarding cold-formed steel profile have been performed, but fewer studies in terms of cold-formed pallet racking specifically in connection due to the semi-rigid behavior by lug-hooked into the upright have been conducted. The objective of this study is to review the related literature on steel storage racking connection behavior.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.3 no.5
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• pp.307-320
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• 2003

This paper presents an efficient approach to the determination of the buckling loads of down-aisle, spliced, unbraced, pallet rack structures subjected to vertical and horizontal loads. A pallet rack structures is analysed by considering the stability equations of an equivalent free-sway column. The effects of semi-rigid beam-to-upright, splice-to-upright and base-plate-to-upright connections are fully incorporated into the analysis. Each section of upright between successive beam levels in the pallet rack is considered to be a single column element with two rotational degrees of freedom. A computer algebra package was used to determine modified stability equations for column elements containing splices. The influence of the position of splices in a pallet rack is clearly demonstrated.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.87 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 2023

This paper describes the experimental investigation of steel pallet rack beam-to-column connec-tions. Total behavior of moment-rotation (M-φ) curve and the effect of particular characteristics on the behavior of connection were studied and the associated load strain relationship and corre-sponding failure modes are presented. In this respect, an estimation of SPRBCCs moment and rotation are highly recommended in early stages of design and construction. In this study, a new approach based on Support Vector Machines (SVMs) coupled with discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is designed and adapted to estimate SPRBCCs moment and rotation according to four input parameters (column thickness, depth of connector and load, beam depth,). Results of SVM-WAVELET model was compared with genetic programming (GP) and artificial neural networks (ANNs) models. Following the results, SVM-WAVELET algorithm is helpful in order to enhance the accuracy compared to GP and ANN. It was conclusively observed that application of SVM-WAVELET is especially promising as an alternative approach to estimate the SPRBCCs moment and rotation.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.201-211
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• 2017

This study evaluates the reliability of present European codes in predicting the collapse load of columns made with perforated cold-formed steel (CFS) profiles under combined axial load and bending. To this aim, a series of experimental tests on slender open-section specimens have been performed at varying load eccentricity. Preliminarily, stub column tests have also been performed to calculate the effective section properties of the investigated profile. By comparison of experimental data with code-specified M-N strength domains, the authors demonstrate that present code formulations may underestimate the collapse load of thin-walled perforated open sections. The study is the first step of a wider experimental and numerical study aimed at better describing strength domains of perforated CFS open sections.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.143-152
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• 2017

This paper focuses on the seismic performance of pallet-type steel storage rack structures in their down aisle direction. As evidenced by experimental research, the seismic response of storage racks in the down-aisle direction is strongly affected by the nonlinear moment-rotation response of the beam-to-column connections. In their down-aisle direction, rack structures are designed to resist lateral seismic loads with typical moment frames utilizing proprietary beam-to-column moment-resisting connections. These connections are mostly boltless hooked type connections and they exhibit significantly large rotations resulting in large lateral frame displacements when subjected to strong ground motions. In this paper, typical hooked boltless beam-to-column connections are studied experimentally to obtain their non-linear reversed cyclic moment-rotation response. Additionally, a compound type connection involving the standard hooks and additional bolts were also tested under similar conditions. The simple introduction of the additional bolts within the hooked connection is considered to be a practical way of structural upgrade in the connection. The experimentally evaluated characteristics of the connections are compared in terms of some important performance indicators such as maximum moment and rotation capacity, change in stiffness and accumulated energy levels within the cyclic loading protocol. Finally, the obtained characteristics were used to carry out seismic performance assessment of rack frames incorporating the tested beam-to-column connections. The assessment involves a displacement based approach that utilizes a simple analytical model that captures the seismic behavior of racks in their down-aisle direction. The results of the study indicate that the proposed method of upgrading appears to be a very practical and effective way of increasing the seismic performance of hooked connections and hence the rack frames in their down-aisle direction.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.323-335
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• 2013

This work aims to study the effect of stiffener ties in the behavior of intermediate length open section Cold-Formed Steel (CFS) Columns under axial compression. A comparative study on the behaviour and strength of Cold Formed Steel Columns by changing the direction of projection of lips (i.e., inwards or outwards) are also done. In this work two types of sections were considered Type-I section with lip projecting outwards (hat) and Type-II section with lip projecting inwards (channel). The length of the columns is predicted by performing elastic buckling analysis using CUFSM software. The theoretical analysis is performed using DSM - S100;2007, AS/NZ: 4600-2005 and IS: 801-1975. The compression tests are carried out in a 400 kN loading frame with hinged-hinged end condition. The non-linear numerical analysis is performed using Finite Element software ANSYS 12.0 to simulate the experimental results. Extensive parametric study is carried out by varying the width and spacing of the stiffener ties. The results are compared; the effects of stiffener ties on behaviour and load carrying capacity on both types of columns are discussed.