Seismic behaviour of steel storage pallet racking systems (SEISRACKS2) : final report

The project focuses on the seismic design of static steel pallet racks, which are widely adopted in warehouses. Despite their lightness, racks can be loaded with tons of valuable goods, a live load by far higher than the self-weight, opposite to what happens in usual civil engineering structures. The loss of these goods during an earthquake may represent, for the owner, a very large economic loss, much larger than the cost of the whole rack on which the goods are stored or of the cost for its seismic upgrade. Hence, solution of the problems connected with safe and reliable design of steel storage racks in seismic areas has a very large economic impact. The objective of the SEISRACKS2 project is to increase knowledge on actual structural behaviour and ductility of steel pallet racks, and to assess design rules for earthquake conditions by full-scale testing and numerical simulation. Main outcomes of the research are: 1. Detailed reports on the different aspects investigated; 2. Validation or invalidation of the rules in the current version of FEM 10.2.08; 3. Improvements and extension of the current rules in order to optimize the seismic behaviour of structures designed according to European rules; 4. Definition of standardized experimental procedures to qualify structural elements of rack structures to be used in seismic areas; 5. A new software tool for the design of rack structures under seismic loads.