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I-beam girders dimensioning with numerical modelling of local stresses in

wheel-supporting flanges

Article  in  Mechanika · June 2017

DOI: 10.5755/j01.mech.23.3.14083

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 347

ISSN 13921207. MECHANIKA. 2017 Volume 23(3): 347352

I-beam girders dimensioning with numerical modelling of local stresses

in wheel-supporting flanges
D. Gąska*, T. Haniszewski**, J. Margielewicz***
*Silesian University of Technology, Krasińskiego 8,40-019 Katowice, Poland, E-mail: [email protected]
**Silesian University of Technology, Krasińskiego 8,40-019 Katowice, Poland, E-mail: [email protected]
***Silesian University of Technology, Krasińskiego 8,40-019 Katowice, Poland, E-mail: [email protected]
http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.mech.23.3.14083

1. Introduction flanges;
• the occurrence of additional contact stresses at
In various industrial transport systems lightweight the moment when hoist wheels are passing;
cranes or portable hoists with stationary tracks are used to • abrasive–adhesion wear of the upper surface of
move cargo. These devices require special supporting struc- the lower flange plates from contact with the hoist wheels.
tures in the form of roads, mostly I-beams, whose character- Accordingly, a special welded I-beam girder con-
istic feature is the local load at the bottom flange of the beam struction has been introduced, consisting of two different T-
section - the forces coming from the wheels of the crane or bars (Fig. 1, c). The lower T-beam has thicker shelves, with
hoist trolley. Therefore, the design process of the supporting cylindrical undercuts at the transition of the web plates. Un-
structure for the hoist or overhead crane should take into ac- dercutting of the radius will attenuate the corresponding
count additional components of the stresses from the local notch, and will have a beneficial effect on the fatigue
bending of the free cross-sectional portions of the I-beam or strength and durability of the girder. Additionally, the hard-
box girder. ening surface of the shelf can also be used for improving
One-girder roadways have been applied [1-5]: durability, thereby reducing the wear due to contact with
• in cranes with load capacity <25 t and wheels [2].
span <25 m;
• in overhead conveyors (single and dual);
• in suspended mining railways.
Cranes in which there is a girder in the form of an
I-beam are widely used in industry due to their small size,
their weight and the ensuing price. The I-beam girder is used
as both a winch roadway for moving a rail mounted on the
beam and a suspended hoist on the lower flange. Despite the
lightness of construction, however, compared with box-
girders, they are characterized by greater slenderness and
are therefore not suitable for overhead cranes with large a b c
spans and payloads [6-16]. The typical scope of this type of
overhead crane is therefore usually limited to payloads Fig. 1 Cross-sections of the main girder in hoisting cranes:
<12.5 t (although there are also hoists with a capacity of a - from I-beam according to PN-EN 10024:1998;
25 t) and a span <25 m, with low operating speed and inten- b - parallel-flange I-beam according to PN-EN
sity of work [1, 2]. Such parameters are sufficient, however 10034:1996; c - of welded construction from two
- in an era of high performance with a desire to reduce costs T-bars according to PN-EN 10055:1999
– for regimes that are able to meet the requirements of most
manufacturing processes and handling in industrial plants. 2. Components of the stress state from the local load
The design solution used more often at present is from wheel pressure
to use the bottom shelf structures in the I-beam girder as the
road for the hoist (which is practically obligatory in the case In calculating the strength of the beams for sus-
of cranes with one girder). Another possible solution is to pended transport equipment, the special work of locally
use the upper plane, with a rail mounted as a roadway for loaded lower flanges of the girder must also be taken into
the winch. This is the preferred solution for larger loads, but account. Apart from the general main bending stress acting
it is more time-consuming and expensive to produce. in the X direction (Fig. 2, a), also local deflection of the
Frequently girders are constructed from normal flanges appears. There will then be at least a biaxial stress
hot-rolled beams with sloping flanges, along which a coni- state at the lower flanges (Fig. 2, b) due to the appearance
cal or spherical wheel with one flange or without flanges of additional stress in the Y direction.
rolls (Fig. 1, a). There are also I-beams in the form of a par- According to [17-19], when the bottom flange is
allel-flange beam, along which a roller wheel of the over- reinforced with a welded metal sheet of similar thickness to
head hoist rolls (Fig. 1, b). The lower flanges, depending on the width and length, then it can be assumed that the
the analysis of the girder effort, should have a slightly stresses, in accordance with formulas (1–5), are sufficient in
greater thickness due to the: order to check the beam effort. For long reinforcements
• relatively higher stress at the free edge of the welded to the bottom flange there is no specific guidance in
 348

the standards for the analytical design of cranes. (point 1, Fig. 2, b) and amounts to:
- in the YZ plane in the direction of the y-axis:

c1 y P
1y  2
; (3)
t cp

- in the XZ plane in the direction of the x-axis:

c1 x P
 1x  ; (4)
t cp2

 at the end of the flange and amounts to (point 2,

Fig. 2, b):
- in the XZ plane in the direction of the x-axis:
a
c2 x P
 2x  2
, (5)
t cp

where ci factors are calculated according to Table 1.

Table 1
Values of ci factors [20]
Stresses Values of ci factors
Longitudi-
c0 x  0.050  0.580   0.148 e 3.015 
I-beam with inclined flanges I-beam with parallel flanges

nal bending
stresses c1 x  2.230  1.490   1.390 e 18.33 
(X direc-
c2 x  0.730  1.580   2.910 e 6.00 
tion)
Transverse
bending c0 y   2 .110  1 .977   0 .0076 e 6.53 
stresses  1 .364 
b (Y direc- c1 y  10 .108  7 .408   10 .108 e
Fig. 2 Method of load and components of the stress state in tion)
the I-beam: a - without affecting the local bending of Longitudi-
the bottom flange; b - in the case of local bending of c0 x  0.981  1.479   1.120 e1.322 
nal bending
the lower flange. 0x, 1x, 2x, 0y, 1y - stresses from stresses c1 x  1.810  1.150   1.060 e 7.70 
local bending at points 0, 1, 2. mb - stress from main (X direc-
c2 x  1.990  2.810   0.840 e 4.69 
bending of the girder;  - shear stress; tion)
L - vertical bending force; T - shearing force; Transverse
B - horizontal bending force; P - local bending force bending c0 y   1 .096  1 .095   0 .192 e 6.00 
stresses
In the model calculation, the flanges can be consid- (Y direc- c1 y  3 .965  4 .835   3 .965 e 2.675 
ered as an infinitely long plate constrained at the point of tion)
transition from web to flange and with a free edge at the end.
n
For such an adopted model the greatest normal stress from 
bending the flange of local bending force P (the pressure of 0 .5  a  t w 
a pair of wheels) occurs:
 in the cross-section, where the transition from 3. General rules for design of the main girder of
web to flange occurs (point 0, Fig. 2, b) and amounts to: underslung cranes
- in the YZ plane in the direction of the y-axis:
According to [21], the material of the beam cross-
c0 y P section of the crane must be chosen so that at the occurrence
0y  ; (1)
t cp2 of a single computational load, taking into account the par-
tial safety factors p, respectively combined according to
- in the XZ plane in the direction of the x-axis: [22], while the occurrence of biaxial normal stress (x and
y) and the shear stress  – condition is satisfied:
c0 x P
 0x  ; (2) 2 2
  Sd , x    Sd , y 
2
t cp2  Sd , x  Sd , y   Sd 
        1 .0 , (6)
 f   f  f Rd , x f Rd , y  f Rd 
 Rd , x   Rd , y 
 in the cross-section, where the wheel load is where fRd,x, fRd,y - are the corresponding limit design stresses
 349

in directions x and y; fRd - limit design shear stress, Sd,x, from Abaqus 6.13 Software Documentation were used [23].
Sd,y, Sd - are the design stresses. The model presented in Fig. 4 consists of 1413688 elements
When calculating the stress, it is necessary to in- and 1641297 nodes.
clude all internal forces occurring in the load-carrying sys-
tem:
a) for the calculation of the normal stresses: axial
force, bending moment and bimoment;
b) for the calculation of shear stress: shear force
and torque.
For the dimensioning of the main girder of the un-
derslung crane, further stress of the local flanges bending
according to the formulas (1–5) should be considered. The
local stresses can be reduced by one quarter because of the
extra plastic bending capacity of the flange plate or the extra
plastic tension capacity of the web. Then the condition (6),
when checking the cross-section, takes the form (compare
Fig. 2):
 for point 0 according to Fig. 2, b:
2 2
  mb  0 .75  0 x   0 .75  0 y  a
    
 f Rd , x   f 
   Rd , y 
0 .75  0 y  0 .75  0 x   mb 
2
 
   Sd   1 .0 ; (7)
f Rd , x f Rd , y  f Rd 

 for point 1 according to Fig. 3, b:

2 2
  mb  0 .75  1 x   0 .75  1 y 
    
 f Rd , x   f 
   Rd , y 
0 .75  1 y  0 .75  1 x   mb 
2
 
   Sd   1 .0 ; (8)
f Rd , x f Rd , y  f Rd 

 for point 2 according to Fig. 2, b:

2 2
  mb  0 .75  2 x    Sd  b
     1 .0 . (9)
  Fig. 3 Model dimensions: a - general geometric data of
 f Rd , x   f Rd 
I-beam girder; b - general geometric data of
4. Numerical model of I-beam girder traversing hoist

There has been prepared a comparison of the re- The boundary conditions were applied by the ref-
sults obtained by using FEM and analytical method. It has erence points, which are combined with the construction by
several goals. Firstly, in terms of verifying the correctness using an MPC beam type connector. Construction of the
of the proposed method of modeling the girder. Second, girder was divided into three parts - two surface types and
analysis of the parameter n impact on the results obtained one as a solid type (in order to shorten the calculation time).
and their accuracy. These parts are combined with each other by using a shell-
In the numerical simulation, an HEB 300 I-beam to-solid coupling, which connects the side surface of the
crane girder with a span of 10 m and capacity of 10 t was solid model with the edge of the shell. Load was applied by
used. The span of the hoisting winch wheels was 0.795 m. adding forces to the wheel axles of the hoist by using kine-
In the presented model, the construction of headstocks and matic coupling constraints. Load at the bottom flange of the
other unnecessary elements of the crane were omitted. The girder was applied by using node-to-surface type contact el-
model was loaded at the middle of its span. Geometrical de- ements. Between the contact of the wheel and the surface of
pendencies are shown in Fig. 3. the lower flange of the girder a friction coefficient with a
The N, mm, MPa system of units was applied, so value of 0.15 is used, which is true for connection between
the results of the stresses are in MPa and displacements are steel and steel. In the simulation gravity as an acceleration
shown in mm. The load-carrying structure was made from value of 9.81 m/s2 was also applied, which gives the oppor-
S355, where the limit design stress for sheets with thickness tunity to take into account the mass of the elements of the
< 63 mm is 305 MPa [21]. Standardized general purpose construction used.
quadratic shell elements S8R and general purpose quadratic
brick elements with reduced integration points C3D20R
 350

These make it possible to obtain the values of the

stress at any point of the cross-section of the I-beam, espe-
cially on fillets or places where the bottom flange goes in-
side to the middle part of the I-beam.
Fig. 6 shows maps of the stresses at the top and the
bottom of the girder, where the influence of the local and
main bending of the bottom flange, which is connected with
loading of the construction by wheels, can be seen. The
maximum values of the stress are presented on the bottom
flange of the girder, mainly on the connection between the
a wheels and the top surface of the bottom flange of the girder.
The maps of stresses presented in Fig. 2 at the cross-section
of the bottom flange of the girder are the basis for determin-
ing the stress values at the so-called characteristic points
presented in Figs. 2 and 7.

b
Fig. 4 FEM model: a - connection between solid and shell
partsl; b - solid model with wheel cross-section

5. Simulation results
a
The simulation results are presented as stress maps
using Huber–Mises–Hencky theory and are shown in Figs. 5
and 6. These figures show maps of the stresses in the middle
(modelled as a solid) part of the girder.

b
Fig. 6 Stress in I-beam according to Huber–Mises–Hencky
theory (without wheels): a – top; b - bottom

6. Comparison of calculations obtained by the FEM

and analytical methods
a
Fig. 7 shows the stress measurement points and
comparison of values obtained analytically, as well as the
values obtained through numerical calculations.
The values of stresses at characteristic points 0,
1, 2 presented in normative documents are connected with
the value of coefficient n (which is the dimension between
the side of the bottom surface of the flange and the place
where the force is applied). Determination of the n coeffi-
cient value is hard when using loading of the construction
as a non-concentrated force. That is the main reason why the
values of stress obtained are a little different from those
given by the normative documents.
As can be seen in Table 2, the differences are
Fig. 5 Stress in I-beam according to Huber–Mises–Hencky 3.5 ÷ 15% for n1 = 20, 2 ÷ 13% for n2 = 30, 6 ÷ 14% for
theory (with wheels and mesh): a - isometric view; n3 = 40. The most discussable point is point 0, where the
b - wheel cross-section view bottom flange of the girder goes into the middle part of the
 351

girder. There, a 10 to 15% difference occurs because the an- out on the basis of the standard design of cranes using for-
alytical values obtained by the normative documents do not mulas (7–9). It is also necessary in this regard to take into
include the fillets between the middle part of the girder at account, beyond the general bending, additional compo-
the lower and upper flanges. This has the major effect of nents of the stress associated with local bending of the
lowering the values of stress at the concentration point. flanges by the crane or winch wheelsets. However, for
Comparison of the analytical and FEM methods strengthening of the lower flange the provisions of Euro-
shows similar results at major stress points. Both the analyt- code 3 and the Finite Element Method should be applied.
ical method according to [20] and the numerical modelling For dimensioning of the fixed roadway for suspended hoists
may be used in the design of the main girders of overhead or trolleys, the proper normative act is Eurocode 3, the
cranes. The differences are mainly due to modelling the load standard for the static calculation and design of steel struc-
in a different way - in the analytical method force is added tures.
as concentrated force (at only one point), in FEM it is linear. It seems to be necessary to develop analytical
The FEM method seems to be more accurate and gives a methods taking into account both the real way of modelling
wider range of results, moreover allowing checking of the the load acting on the flanges of the I-beam (linear load) and
reinforced structures (weld-overlay). the rounding and notches at the side of the penetration of the
bottom flanges into the web. The aim of the analytical
Table 2 method is to adopt in the calculations infinitely long panels
Comparison of stress values with the specified width, such that the connection is
strengthened, i.e., to get rid of the notch stress by rounding,
Type of calcu- Point No
Results thereby giving lower stress values in comparison to the val-
lation 2 1 0
ues obtained by analytical calculations. Modelling of loads
FEM for Stress [MPa] 226.6 235.4 193.4
causing local deformation of the lower flanges poses several
n1 = 20 mm Difference [%] 0 0 0 problems, mainly due to the number of elements and the
Analytical for Stress [MPa] 241.9 243.7 222.2 long calculation time. Note, however, that the analytical
n1 = 20 mm Difference [%] 6.72 3.51 14.94 method contains many simplifications due to which the re-
Analytical for Stress [MPa] 214.7 230.3 217.1 sults obtained by this method may be inaccurate. The value
n2 = 30 mm Difference [%] -5.25 -2.19 12.28 and suitability of the proposed method, in terms of the val-
Analytical for Stress [MPa] 194.9 221.4 212.4 ues obtained for strengthening the lower flange, the ribbing
n3 = 40 mm Difference [%] -13.98 -5.98 -9.87 effect, fatigue tests, and reinforcing ribs, should be verified.

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