Strain measurements on rails of crane runway girders to predict accurate wheel loads

Abstract

AbstractIn existing crane runways, data on the actual wheel loads acting on the crane rail are often missing. Therefore, approximated wheel loads have often to be assumed for static calculations of the crane runway girder. Within this paper, a method is presented that allows to calculate the actual wheel loads based on strain measurements on the crane rail. The idea is to measure strains on the rail at certain pre‐defined locations, while the crane is passing and calculate the wheel load from the measured strains. The correlation between the strains in the rail and the wheel load is determined in a numerical finite element study and in laboratory tests.The numerical studies also comprise several different geometries of crane runway girders. The objective is to verify the influences of them on the calculated strains in the rail. The results of the numeric calculations show, that the strains in the rail generally depend on the stiffness of the crane runway girder. The thickness of the upper flange and the web as well were identified as the main parameters. This behavior is also verified in laboratory tests.For the contact between the rail and the crane runway girder, two different cases have been investigated. The first analysis refers to a hard contact under compression which allows separation under tension. This configuration corresponds to cases with steel wearing plates beneath the crane rails. The second case considers an elastomeric rail pad between the rail and the crane runway girder.