Determination of manufacturing residual stresses in cold-formed thin-walled steel profiles

Cold-formed thin-walled steel profiles are used in Storage-and-Retrieval (S&R) logistic systems due to their lightweight design, cost-effective production, and mechanical performance. Moreover, modern S&R systems are automated, where carrier-shuttles and stacker-cranes move heavy palleted products through a racking structure, subjecting its structural members to fatigue phenomena, which may be aggravated due to manufacturing residual stresses. Hence, this work describes experimental and numerical procedures for determining manufacturing residual stresses, whose results are directly compared, validating the predicting capabilities of the numerical models. Finally, stresses due to pre-forming coiling/uncoiling cycles are also investigated and found to impact the final residual stress field. •Manufacturing residual stresses are determined for cold-formed thin-walled profiles.•Manufacturing residual stresses are obtained via experimental and numerical methods.•Experimental data is used to validate the predicting capabilities of the FE models.•Residual stresses due to coiling/uncoiling are combined with cold-forming stresses.•Parametric studies of the forming and pre-forming processes are also presented.