Analysis of operational factors affecting the serviceability of seaport hoisting and transporting equipment

Abstract

Metal structures of seaport equipment are operated under high-cycle loading, and this peculiarity is primarily taken into account in well-known approaches to their service life assessment. These approaches consider the as-received state of metal and regulate its mechanical properties. However, such procedures are unsuitable for substantiating the safe excessive operation of steel structures, since they don’t take into account the degradation of the mechanical properties of metal during its long-term operation under intense cyclic loading. Two crucial factors in the serviceability loss of hoisting and transport equipment during their long-term operation have been analysed. The former is intensive cyclic loading which promotes the development of fatigue damage and initiates the growth of fatigue cracks. Another one lies in the detrimental effect of the marine environment in the operational degradation of port metal structures since the marine atmosphere could be not only corrosive but also has hydrogenating capabilities. Hydrogenation, in turn, contributes to the in-service loss in metal plasticity and, from the other side, accelerates fracture by the hydrogen embrittlement mechanism.