Performance of mono-symmetric upright pallet racks under slab deflections

This paper summarizes a study on the influence of floor displacements on the performance of medium-rise steel storage pallet racks. In order to obtain a reasonably wide range of data of practical interest for routine design, numerical analyses have been carried out by varying several key parameters such as the position of the rack on the floor slab, the rack geometry, the floor span length and the degree of rotational stiffness of both beam-to-column and base-plate connections. Moreover, attention has been focused on the influence of the accuracy of the structural model used in the design and two commercial analysis packages, differing for the degree of refinement of the implemented finite element beam formulation, have been considered. Finally, a suitable equation is presented to estimate the reduction of performance with respect to the ideal case of racks supported by rigid floor slab.