ANALYSIS OF INDUSTRIAL STEEL STORAGE PALLET RACKS TO ASSESS SENSITIVITY TO PROGRESSIVE COLLAPSE

In the realm of steel structures, industrial steel storage pallet racks are fundamental in terms of logistics, with significant implications for safety and risk management [1]. The phenomenon of progressive collapse, in addition to being incremental (since it originates from the failure of at least one local element) and disproportionate (as it propagates to adjacent elements in a classic domino effect), is one of the main causes of crises for this type of structures [2]. Unfortunately, to date, design solutions are not yet adequate to mitigate such effects, nor are there any regulatory prescriptions to prevent this phenomenon or to identify the requirements for adequate performance safety. Therefore, this study aims to analyze case studies of commercially available industrial steel storage pallet racks in configurations proposed by manufacturers to examine their progressive collapse. Following the "column loss" type analyses, it was found that these structures are highly susceptible to progressive collapse both in the case of the loss of a terminal column and an internal column.