This paper is a presentation of a physical model for the elastic-partly plastic behavior of rectangular hollow section pinned struts subjected to static cyclic axial loading and the evaluation of the compressive strength of retrofitted damaged struts. Retrofitting is achieved by welding stiffening plates along the webs of damaged struts. The shape of the elastic and permanent deformations of the strut axis satisfy the conditions at the ends and midspan. Continuous functions of the geometric variables of stress distributions in the yielded zone are evaluated by interpolation between three points along each partly plastic zone. Permanent deformations of the partly plastic region are computed and used to update the shape of the unloaded strut. The necessity of considering geometric nonlinearity is discussed. The sensitivity of the results to the location of interpolation points, the shape of the permanent deformation and material hysteretic properties is investigated.