Experimental Tests and Fem Simulations of Pallet Racks Beam-to-Column Joints

This study investigates the flexural response and weld-dominated failure of beam-to-upright connections in cold-formed steel pallet rack systems through an integrated experimental and numerical approach. Six monotonic flexural tests, comprising three left-hand and three right-hand connection specimens, were performed in accordance with EN 15512. The specimens exhibited closely comparable moment–rotation responses, indicating that connector orientation had no significant influence on the initial stiffness, peak resistance or overall rotational behaviour of the investigated connection. In all tests, failure initiated at the upper horizontal weld seam of the beam-end connector and subsequently extended towards the adjacent vertical weld. A detailed three-dimensional finite element model was developed in Abaqus using solid elements, experimentally derived material properties, surface-to-surface contact interactions and ductile damage modelling in the welded region. Dynamic implicit and dynamic explicit solution procedures were investigated as complementary modelling strategies. The implicit formulation effectively reproduced the global response up to peak resistance and identified the experimentally observed damage-initiation region. The explicit formulation additionally captured progressive weld damage, element deletion and the associated post-peak loss of load-carrying capacity. The numerical-to-experimental ratios were approximately 1.04 for the peak moment and 0.98 for the corresponding rotation. The results demonstrate that agreement with the global moment–rotation response alone is insufficient when connection failure is governed by highly localised weld damage. An adequate representation of the welded region, contact interactions and damage evolution is required to reproduce both the resistance and the governing collapse mechanism. The proposed framework provides a basis for extending design-assisted-by-testing procedures towards failure-oriented numerical assessment of pallet rack connections.