Seismic fragility of a stock of unbraced pallet racks considering events on amplifying soils

Recent seismic events in Italy highlighted the considerable vulnerability of industrial pallet racks that were originally designed solely for gravity loads. Despite this, such racks continue to be the predominant storage solution in industrial settings. This research focuses on assessing the seismic fragility of these systems to support more precise risk evaluations for enterprises and inform the design of effective retrofit strategies. For this purpose, three-dimensional non-linear finite-element models of various unbraced pallet rack configurations-typical of those found in Italy-were analysed through Time-History simulations using many bidirectional ground motion records representative of the Italian seismicity on amplifying soils. Fragility curves were then derived employing various engineering demand parameters and seismic intensity measures within a cloud-based analysis framework.