ABSTRACT
High-rise steel storage racks are characterized by the asymmetrical bracing layout since only the rear plane of the racks can be braced in the bay direction. The bracing system locates at a distance from the rack, which further requires a bracket to connect the rack and the spine bracing system. This paper investigates the behavior of the bracket-to-rack connection and the bracket-to-spine-bracing connection and their influence on the elastic buckling load of the asymmetrically braced high-rise storage racks. As a general statement, the elastic buckling load of the high-rise braced racks is strongly intertwined by the initial rotational stiffness of the bracket-to-rack connection and the bracket-to-spine-bracing connection. Assuming such connections to be rotational-rigid in the analysis would lead to up to 19.7% overestimation in the elastic buckling load prediction.
