Koiter Asymptotic Analysis of Thin-walled Cold-formed Steel Uprights Pallet Racks

An imperfection sensitivity analysis of cold-formed steel pallet racks in compression is presented. The analysis is based on Koiter's approach and Monte Carlo simulation on one hand, and the ECBL (Erosion of Critical Buckling Load) approach on the other one. Mode interaction is taken into account and, based on that, the limit load and erosion of critical buckling load are evaluated. The analysis is based on an intensive experimental study carried out at the Politehnica University of Timisoara and extended to other thicknesses of the cross-section in order to highlight the variation of erosion. Thousands of imperfections were analyzed at a very low computational cost and an effective statistical evaluation of the limit performance was carried out.