Analysis procedure of the low-cycle fatigue behaviour for structural elements and connections

A state-of-the-art research was performed in the scientific literature to assess the experimental procedures generally adopted by the scientific community for quasistatic testing of structural elements and connection. The main and widely used recommended protocols, particularly ECCS and ATC-24 recommendations, to which refers the large part of the researches performed on this topic, are described and analyzed. In order to overcome some limitations of the existing testing procedures, particularly in what regards the description of the unsymmetrical displacement histories experienced by real structural elements when subjected to an earthquake motion, acting simultaneously to vertical loads, a new testing procedure is proposed. Moreover some results of an experimental campaign on steel rack structural systems,carried out adopting the loading protocols of this new procedure, are presented.