A unified approach for fatigue detail categorization applied to rack structures

Rack structures made of thin-walled cold-formed mild steel profiles integrate automated storage-and-retrieval (S&R) systems operating on a 24/7 basis to satisfy the current demands of warehouse logistics. The cyclic storage of palletized goods combined with dynamic actions from S&R systems results in fatigue phenomena responsible for interruptions. However, cold-formed steel is missing from current European standards for fatigue design. Answering to the industry's needs, the FASTCOLD project financed by the RFCS of the EU investigated the problem, generating important fatigue data. Additionally, several fatigue details are categorized via a unified approach based on a large data set regarding full-and small-scale fatigue tests.