Ocak CRANE GIRDER DESIGN An examination of design and fatigue considerations Julius P. Van De Pas, PE. Gop) is-a project engineer and James M, Fisher, PoE, PhD. is bce president with Computerized Structural Design (CSD), 0 Milwaubee-based consulting engineering firm. Fisher is @ member of the AISC Committees ‘Specifications and on Design, Fabrication and Brection of Structural Stee! Buildings. This lrtiete ts bosed on paper they presented at the 1996 National ‘Stee Construetion Conference 487 Morn St Contin March 3908 E DEPENDENT Upon proper Grane runway girder design and detailing. The runway design must account for the fatigue effects caused by the repeated passing of the crane, and the details must. not create restraints that limit the girders ability to deflect under the ‘applied crane loals. The runway iirders should be thought of as a pure of a system comprised of the crane rails, ral attachments, Glectrification support, erane ‘tap, crane column attachment, tie back and the girder isa. All Of those items should be incorpo: ‘ated into the design and detal- ing of the erane runway girder system, Sifercloments of a strata: al assembly tend to attract load ‘his holds trae for crane girders Ina statically loaded member, the tendeney for an attachment to *draw” load can often be neglected. However, with the repeated application of loads this condition can lead to fatigue damage. Relative deflections between adjacent members may often be noglected in statically Toaded structures. In dynamical. Jy loaded structures these rela tive movements ean result in some form of fatigue damage. Te hhas been estimated that 90% of rane ier problems are aso fated with fatigue cracking. To address these conditions, this paper will briefly discuss the Phenomena of fatigue damage, then the nature of crane Toads Will be discussed followed with a Aiscussion of typical connections and details, lastly a design tccample will be provided. ‘The basie phenomena of fatigue damage has been under- stood for may years. Engineers have designed crane runway sirdors that have performed with ‘minimal problems while being Subjected to million of eycles of loading. The girders that are performing successfully have heen properly designed and detailed tor ‘limit the applied stress range to aceptable levels. + avoid unexpected restraints ft the attachments and Supports + avoid stress concentrations atertical locations + avoid eccentricities due to ail misalignment or crane travel + minimize residual stresses Runway eystoms that have performed well have been prop- rly maintained by keoping the Fails and girders aligned and level Famous Dastacn Fatigue damage ean be char- acterized as progressive crack. growth due to fluctuating stress fon the member, Fatigue cracks Initiate at small defects or imperfections in the base materi lor weld metal. The imperfec- tions met as stress risers that magnify the applied elastic Stresses into small regions of Plastic stress. As Toad eyeles are pplied, the plastic strain in the Small plastic region advances until the material separstes and the crack advances, At that point, the plastie stress region moves to the new tip ofthe crack. land the process repeats itself Eventually, the crack size becomes large enough that the combined effect of the crack si20 land the applied stress exceed the toughness of the material and a final fracture occurs. Common rads of structural steel and common sizes of members used in interior applications are not prone to brittle fracture, The typical situation occurs when cracks reach a noticeable sizeand ere repaired before cata Strophie filare secur. A dam: ‘got girder can be evaluated for Miness for purpse using various {stig Iie prediction techniques and fracture mechani, These ‘bothers are ouside the sop of ‘this discussion. me ‘Ths phenemena of fatigue damage or erase growth ss con Sider to occur in thre stage: {nition propagation; an final fractere. The crack tnitiation {affected by the initial flaw flze, the amount of residual Stroma, the presence of corrosion fund the applied strese range Mos ofthe fatigue life of an tnweiled oF unnotehed member is ten op in the initiation of the crack. Fabricated members {ppicaly will have small defects {Hom the welding process that can be considered ts initiated racks, In this case, the entire ‘tee if ofthe setion fe tlken up in crack propagation, The ‘tefl life of the element fs use ally met when the eral reaches an objectionable size Crack propagation occurs when the apie fonds uct Inteasion or in reversal from tension" to.” compression, Fluctaating compressive stress wl cor entse cracks to propa fate, However, fctusting com Fresnve stress ina region of Fesidual tensile atzss wil use {racks to propagate. In this ease the eracke will stop growing after the residual stress 1 feleased or the crack extends out ofthe tense eon The general design solutions to mnmurn adequate service ile of ‘members subject £0 repented Toads are to lint the ldap of residual stro, limit the sie of Initial rmpereeions, and to mit the magnitude of the applied Stress range. The "AISC Specitcation finite the allowable stress range for a given service life based on the anticipaved sever ofthe stvece ser for 8 fiven fabricated condition. In ‘dition, i requires conformance with Chapter 9 ofthe AWS DLL uctural Welding Code Dynamically Loaded Struc: tunes"), which provides criteria for limiting the toverstyof stress risers found in weld metal and the adjacent base metal. Tf should be noted that higher strongth steel doos not have a longer fatigue service life than AIG steel, That is, the rote of track growth ie independent of the yield strength of the material Similarly, the rate of erack growth ie not effected by the toughness of the material. A riven eross section of higher toughness will be able to resist the effet of a larger crack with out fracture. However, at this Stage of the service life of the member, only a few additional tyeies would be gained by having material of greater toughness. ‘Thus, the AISC Specification provisions regarding fatigue eon ditions are independent of mate- Fial strength and toughness. The material design requirements for strength and toughness are the same for erane runway girders as for statically loaded girders Crave Loans Bach runway is designed to support a spacifie crane or group otieranes. The weight of the rane bridge and telley and the ‘heel spacing for the specific rane should be obtained from the crane manufacturer. The crane weight can vary signif tantly depending on the facturer and the classifi the crane, Based on the manu facturer’s dats, foroes are: deter mined fo aceotnt for impact, at ral loads, and longitadinal Toads. ‘The AISC Speeification, snd most model but ding codes fddress erane oad and set min- mum standards for these loads ‘The AISE Technical Report No, 18. Guide for the Design anci Construction of Milt Buildings als sets minimum requirements for impact Iateral ae longitude nal crane loads. The AISE Fequirements are usel when the ‘engineer and owner determine that the level of quality set hy the AISE Guide is eppropriate for a given project. It should be noted that the lates: edition of the BOCA National Building Code has adopted the AISE Guide for the purpoxe of deter mining erane loads Vertical crane loads are termed as wheel loads. The mi nitude of the wheel lad is at its maxima when the crane is if ing its rated capacity load, and the trolley is located at the end ot the bridge diretly adjacent to the girder. Ta addition to shear and bending stresses in the gird- tr eross section, the hee! loads ecu in locelizad stresses wndor the wheel. AISE Technical Roport No. 12 provides an equa. tion for ealeulating this lealized stress. The method is based on Considering the top flange and Fail as beamia on an idealized tlastie foundation. The axial stifiness of the web determinesPlease circle # 24 TSENG RESTRICTED TO ONLY THOSE CONNECTION ae os monhaonieD Wf YOUR DETALING SOFTWARE? eerprs erent Onoe coentotene low: you ts Sete yee Guy ‘G complete moterial ist for'the member Inthe shop” Bile as {Jou thet you don! 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The compressive stress is oriented parallel to the axis of the member and can be added 10 the flexural compressive stress Localized bending stresces at the top flange to web juncture can Io occur when the rail is not jgned directly over the girder ‘web, ‘To minimize fatigue erack: Ing atthe junetion of the web to the top flange the AISE Technical Report No. 13 requires fall penetration weld plus con- foured fillet welds between the web and top flange. It should be hoted that the localized wheel Toads will occur with each pase sage of the wheel. A girder sup- porting a four wheel end truck trill experience four stress fluc: tuations for each passage of the The vertical wheel loads are typically Thetored using the samme Impact factor, Te accounts for the tfieet of soseieration in hoisting the loads and impact eaused by the wheels jumping over iregu latities in the rail. Bolted rail splices tend to cause greater fmpact than welded splices. 18 the U.S, most codes require & 2B inereae in loads foreab and radio operated cranes and a 10% Increase for pendant operated “Lateral crane loads ar orient ced perpendicular to the crane runway and are applied at the top of the rails Lateral loads are ceased by s"geceleration and decelera- ton ofthe trolley and loads | non vertieal ling Unbalanced drive mecha- + oblique oF skewed travel of the Bridge Except for the ease ofthe trol- ley running into the end stops, the magnitude of lateral load due to trolley movement and ‘onvertical liting is limited by the coefficient af fiction betwoen, the end truck wheels and rails Drive mechanisms are either fequal on each side ofthe erane or they are balanced to align the toner of the tractive fore with the center of gravity ofthe crane