PREDICTION OF THE LOAD CARRYING CAPACITY OF PERFORATED STEEL-RACK UPRIGHTS

Cold-formed members (CFMs) are widely employed in construction due to their high strength-to-weight ratio, ease of fabrication and high level of standardization. The design methodology currently employed in Europe to assess their load-carrying capacity is the well-known Effective Width Method (EWM) while, in other countries, the Direct Strength Method (DSM) is widely used. However, for members having a cross-section with a complex geometry and/or characterized by the presence of a regular perforation systems, the theoretical procedures are substituted by laboratory tests, in accordance with the well-known design assisted by testing procedure. The paper deals with the theoretical prediction of the load-carrying capacity of perforated compressed members used for rack system. A database collecting 542 test results is shortly presented. Attention is then focused on the application of the EWM, extended to consider the presence of the holes in accordance with the prescriptions of the AISI code. Also, the DSM has been presented and applied to the database, by considering the procedure given by the code for perforated members. A comparison between the predicted load-carrying capacity and the experimental ones allows for a critical and reliable appraisal of the accuracy of the theoretical approaches