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RUNWAY CRANE GIRDERS

1. General elements: details of supports on columns, sections, rails


2. Forces acting on runway girders and combinations rules
3. Verifications of the runway girders



Overhead crane girders for industrial
buildings (small lifting capacity)
TYPES OF RUNWAY GIRDERS
Runway crane and girders: 1-crane bridge; 2- gantry girder; 3- crab; 4-
end carriage; 5- payload; l-span of the crane bridge; a- spacing
between the wheels of the crane; L-bay of the building
Section of runway girders for cranes with different loading: a)- hot rolled
sections for light loads and small bays: b) and c)- build up sections from hot
rolled shapes; d) runway girder with horizontal girder which delivers the
reactions to the structural column ( heavy loads and big bays)
I (IPE) and build up sections are used for smaller bays and lighter cranes (6 m, Q=50...100 kN).
Bigger bays and lifting capacities of the cranes (912 m, Q>200 kN) build-up cross sections are used .
Runway girder with horizontal girder made of steel plate: 1-
top flange of the crane girder; 2- rail; 3- angle cleats for
fixing the rail on top flange; 4- thick chequered plate; 5-
angle stiffener; 6- joist supporting the plate between two
running columns; 7-angle supporting the plate attached to
the flange of the column; 8- splice for thee bolted
connection of the joist to the column
Runway girders with platform sustained of steel
lattice girder: 1- welds done at site; 2- bolted
connection between the flange of the column and
the elements of the horizontal lattice girder
RAILS SYSTEMS
Different systems of fixing the rails on the crane girder: a), b) square rails welded continuously to the top flange;
c) - railway rails fixed with clamps; d), square rail fixed with angles fastened with bolts to the top flange;
e)- KP profile of rail ; f)- railway rails on elastic support (1-neoprene pad); g) rails attached with hooks to the top flange.
Minimum thickness t
r
measured
downwards from the wear
surface of the rail
Buffers on the crane girders:
a)- for cranes carrying light loads and easier working
conditions; b), c) for cranes carrying heavy loads
and hard working conditions
Evaluation of the permanent actions on runway
girders
L ) 30 . 0 ... 15 . 0 ( g
k , G
=
uniform distributed loads on the length of the girder [kN/m];
1) estimated characteristic value of the weight of the crane girder,
extracted from tables of hot rolled sections or evaluated during the sizing procedure;
for plate girders the following value may be adopted:

2) characteristic value of the weight of the rail (including the weight of the
connections); for a square section we may determine the weight:
3) characteristic values of weights of the elements of the horizontal girder, in the case
when they are part of the runway system, for ex. weight of the chequered steel plate
or of the elements of the horizontal lattice girder. In all the cases the weight transferred
to the runway girder is considered from half of the width of the platform, the other half
being supported by the horizontal joists attached to external flanges of the columns.

2
b
w g
i
k , p k . p
=
w
p,k
weight of the chequered steel plate of mild steels from catalogue,
according with its thickness; for industrial purposes a minimum thickness is r
equired because of corrosion exposure;
b
i
width of the column assimilated with the distance between the axis of the rail
of the runway and axis of the transversal frame
live loads according to the EN 1991-3 recommendations:
Point load Q
k
= 3.0 kN if materials are deposited on the platform and Q
k
= 1.5 kN
if the platforms insure only the access.
Forces resulted from other elements existing on the runway (like buffers, a.s.o.).
15 . 1 7850 h g
2
r k , r
=
Vertical loads cases Total wheel load on rail
Crane stationary, lifting the payload
Crane moving with the load

i
- impact factor;

f
partial safety factor for vertical crane actions;
Q
max
characteristic vertical wheel reaction from the hook load;
G
k
sum of the weight of the crane, rails and others
k f 1 max f 2
G Q +
( )
k f max f 4
G Q +
Maximum vertical loads
Permanent loads:
- weight of the trolley (carriage) and the lifted load ;
- weight of the crane bridge;
- self-weight of the crane girder and rails;
- weight of the horizontal girder if this exists;
Live load on the platform if there is the case, Q
k,i
.
Maximum horizontal loads
Transverse surge from the crab ( the load is taken as 10% of the
combined weight of the crab and the lifted load);
Longitudinal surge load from the crane (5% of the static vertical
reactions, i.e. from the weight of the crab, crane bridge and lifted
load;
Skew loads due to travelling; if the crane is class S
1
or S
2
, then these
forces would not need to be considered.
Horizontal loads need not to be combined together.
Forces from the point loads acting on
the runway girder:
1- vertical actions on the wheels of the
crane; 2- horizontal longitudinal actions
from crane surge; 3- horizontal
transversal actions from crab surge; 4-
effect of skewing of the crane; 5- crab


Combination of the vertical and horizontal loads in U.L.S.

Considering the recommendations for grouping the vertical with the horizontal loads, the following combinations
are:
Dead loads (permanent) + live loads (accompanying variable) + vertical point loads from reactions on the
wheels (basic variable);
Dead loads (permanent) + live loads (accompanying variable) + horizontal point loads from: crane surge or crab
surge or skew driving effects (as basic variables);
Dead loads (permanent) + live loads (accompanying variable) + vertical point loads from reactions on the
wheels (basic variable) + horizontal point loads from: crane surge or crab surge or skew driving effects
(accompanying variable).
Determination of the relevant internal forces and moments in the runway girder
The concentrated forces being mobile influence lines will be used to determine the maximum bending moments,
shear forces and reactions on the supports.
During the process of determination of the position of the convoy of mobile forces that will lead to the maximum
bending moments some forces may remain outside the girder length. The factors that influence these situations
are mainly the wheel spacing, a, and the width of the end carriage, a
w.

Design verifications of the crane girder
Limit state of strength and stability:
Lateral-torsional buckling
Horizontal moment capacity
Combined vertical and horizontal moments
Web shear at supports
Local compression under wheels
Web bearing and buckling under the wheel and under the supports
Determination of maximum internal efforts and bending moments in
the simple supported girders:
a) the translation of the convoy of mobile forces along the girder for
the position of maximum moment;
b) b)- influence lines for bending moments and shear forces (in case
of three mobile forces on the girder).
Verifications in S.L.S.
Vertical deflection of a crane girder under static vertical wheel loads
Horizontal deflection under the transversal loads
600
L
lim , v
= o
500
L
lim , h
= o
Fatigue verification is run according to EN 1993-1-9
The effects of the actions from cranes on the girders
I. Biaxial bending produced by the vertical and longitudinal transversal actions;
II. Axial compression or tension produced by the horizontal longitudinal actions;
III. Torsion produced by horizontal transversal forces eccentrically applied with respect to the shear center
of the cross section of the girder;
IV. Horizontal and vertical shear forces, produced by the corresponding actions;
V. Local stresses produced by the weighing forces, statically applied from the wheels on the top of the
rail.
Local stresses in the web of the crane girder produced by vertical loads on the
wheel at the top flange
Local compression stresses, o
0z,Ed

w
t
eff
l
Ed , z
F
Ed , oz

= o
Extending the length of distribution of the local stresses on the depth of the crane girder
Case Description
Effective length of
distribution l
eff

1 The rail is fully restrained to the top flange
2 The rail is partially restrained to the top
flange
3 The rail is placed on a flexible neoprene pad
of >6mm thickness
I
f,eff
moment of inertia of the flange of the crane girder with effective width b
eff

with respect to its horizontal neutral axis;
I
r
moment of inertia of the rail with respect to its horizontal neutral axis;
I
rf
moment of inertia of the cross section obtained from the flange of the crane
girder with effective width b
eff
and the rail with respect to its horizontal neutral
axis;
t
w
thickness of the web
but
Where: b total width of the top flange of the crane girder;
b
fr
width of the rail, see fig. 2;
h
r
height of the rail, see fig. 1;
t
f
thickness of the flange of the beam.
Note: the wear of the rail must be considered
| |
3
1
w r eff
t I 25 . 3 l =
( ) | |
3
1
w eff , f r eff
t I I 25 . 3 l + =
( ) | |
3
1
w eff , f r eff
t I I 25 . 4 l + =
f r fr eff
t h b b + + = b b
eff
s
Local shear stresses,t
0xz,Ed

Local and global shear stresses produced by the vertical forces
transferred from the wheel to the crane girder: 1- global shear
stresses; 2-local shear stresses; 3- position of the load on the wheel
Local stresses of bending produced by the eccentricity of application of the loads
on the wheel, o
T,Ed

( ) q q o tanh
2
w
at
Ed
T 6
Ed , T
=
( )
( )
5 . 0
a
w
h 2 a
w
h 2 sinh
a
w
h
2
sinh
t
I
2
w
at 75 . 0
(
(
(



=
t t
t
q
y Ed , z Ed
e F T =
Torsion of the top flange of the crane girder
Strength verifications of the crane girders 0 . 1
f
3
f f f f
2
M y
Ed
M y
Ed , z
M y
Ed , x
2
M y
Ed , z
2
M y
Ed , x
0 0 0 0 0
s
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|

|
|
.
|

\
|
+
|
|
.
|

\
|

o
0 . 1
M
M
M
M
N
N
Rd , z
Ed , z
Rd , y
Ed , y
Rd
Ed
s + +
Axial internal efforts
Rd , t Ed
N N s
2
M
u
f
TF , net
A 9 . 0
Rd , u
N
;
0
M
y
f
TF
A
Rd , pl
N
)
Rd , u
N ,
Rd , pl
N min(
Rd , t
N

=
=
=
Rd , c
N
Ed
N s
0
M
y
f
TF
A
Rd , pl
N
Rd , c
N

= =
Shear resistance of the top flange Rd , c
V
Ed
V s
0
M
3
y
f
TF
A
Rd , pl
V
Rd , y
V

= =
Shear resistance of the web in elastic or plastic; buckling in shear of the web
1
0
M
3
y
f
Ed
s
|
|
.
|

\
|

t
q
c
72
t
h
w
w
>
( )
Rd , pl
M y
Ed , t
Rd , T , pl
V
/ 3 f 25 . 1
1 V
0
=

t
0 . 1
V
V
Rd , T , pl
Ed
s

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