STEELWAR

STEELWAR is a research project focused on defining and providing a dedicated design approach and proper structural solutions for Automated Rack Supported Warehouses (ARSWs). ARSWs are huge steel buildings representing the present and future of storage technology, providing substantial savings in terms of cost and space, with the additional benefit of an optimized and automated management of goods flows.

ASRWs constitute the upgrade of traditional warehouses: the steel racks, which are originally placed inside the warehouse, gain the additional function of being the primary structural system of the building. Despite this relevant change of structural role, ARSWs’ racks gained most of the technical solutions adopted for the traditional ones, and the use of this solutions widely and fastly spread all over the word with no development of proper design regulations. Indeed, designers currently refer to technical regulations for racks or to standards for buildings, which in both cases are not fully respectful of ARSWs’ peculiarities. A control of their correct applicability to the specific typologies adopted for ARSWs has not been done, and this may create important safety and efficiency problems.

With the support and the knowledge about the current design trends from companies that nowadays design, produce, manufacture and build ARSWs, the main objective of the project is the definition of dedicated innovative design approaches for ARSWs. The developed design approach shall consider all the life phases of ARSWs, starting from the construction phases, the service life and the performances at ultimate limit state. For the ultimate limit state, design approaches are developed for both static and seismic conditions, where numerical predictions supported and validated by a full and extensive experimental campaign.