Force coefficient at each support point of a container crane according to the wind direction

Abstract

This study is conducted to provide the force coefficient according to the wind direction from a wind tunnel test regarding the uplift force at each support point of a container crane and also the designed stowing devices — a tie-down rod and a stowage pin — and an alarm system to prevent overturning of the container crane under wind loads. In order to evaluate the effect of the wind load on the stability of the crane, two container cranes that are widely used in container terminals, viz., 50ton-class and 61ton-class container cranes, are adopted for the analytic model and 19 values are considered for the wind direction as the design parameter. First, the wind tunnel test for the reduced-scale container crane model is performed according to the wind direction using an Eiffel-type atmospheric boundary-layer wind tunnel. Next, the uplift forces at each support point are calculated from the wind tunnel test. Finally, the force coefficient according to the wind direction at each support point is suggested by dividing the uplift force by the square of the wind speed.