An experimental investigation into the behaviour of a 5 ton electric overhead travelling crane and its supporting structure

[摘要] In structural engineering practice the actions imposed by overhead travelling cranes onto thesupporting structure are defined as static forces amplified by dynamic coefficients and applied aspseudo-static forces without taking the interaction between crane and supporting structure intoaccount.To investigate the validity of this approach, the forces generated at the wheels of an experimentalcrane are measured, as the crane traverses on the supporting structure. The interaction at the wheelsof the crane is also visually recorded. These wheel load results will also be used by otherresearchers, to calibrate a numerical model of the experimental system.A full-scale 5 ton electric overhead travelling crane (EOTC) running on top of rails and asupporting structure, was designed and erected for research purposes. The crane has a span of 8.3 mand wheel spacing of 4 m, which can be modified. The supporting structure consists of three simplysupported mono-symmetric plate girders on each side, with a total length of 13.8 m. This issupported by columns with a height of about 3.5 m. This paper describes the calibration of thissystem for measurement purposes.A data acquisition system was implemented to capture forces, strains, deflections and accelerationsat various points on the crane and the supporting structure as well as to measure the velocity of thecrane. The forces at the crane wheels are measured through strain gauges on the end carriage loadmeasuring system.The calibrated facility is used to investigate the behaviour of the crane and the supporting structureunder regular and exceptional wheel loads, which are classified as follows:- Regular wheel loads occur during normal payload hoisting and lowering, longitudinalcrane travel with payload and lateral crab travel with payload.- Exceptional wheel loads occur during eccentric payload hoisting (payload outside normaloperational area), impact forces on end-stops, maximum hoisting of the payload, failure of alongitudinal drive mechanism of the crane, misalignment of the supporting structure andskewing of the crane.The maximum values of these experimentally determined wheel loads and the dynamic response ofthe system is used to help describe the behaviour of the electric overhead travelling crane and itssupporting structure.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University