PSI - Issue 81

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 81 (2026) 184–191

© 2026 The Authors. Copy from the contract: Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of DMDP 2025 organizers Keywords: crane runway girder; fatigue; web–flange connection; horizontal crane forces; acceleration and braking; Eurocode; EN 13001; finite element analysis The findings underline the need to reassess simplified fatigue assumptions by ensuring that operationally induced horizontal actions are appropriately represented. The study contributes to improved fatigue assessment practice and provides practical recom mendations for future studies aimed at optimizing verification methods. VIII International Conference “In-service Damage of Materials: Diagnostics and Prediction” (DMDP 2025) Influence of horizontal crane actions in fatigue assessment of welded web–flange connections in steel runway beams Roman Samchuk a, ∗ , Roman Khmil a a Department of Building Construction and Bridges, Lviv Polytechnic National University, Stepan Bandera St., 12, Lviv, 79013, Ukraine Abstract The paper evaluates the fatigue relevance of horizontal crane actions in welded steel runway beams supporting overhead travelling cranes. In current practice, fatigue verification of runway girders is often based on simplified action models governed by vertical wheel loads, and horizontal actions are frequently neglected. For typical operating conditions with repeated crane and trolley movements, this simplification may be unsafe, as cyclic horizontal forces and torsional e ff ects can contribute to stress ranges in fatigue-sensitive regions. A numerical case study is carried out for a welded runway girder, with emphasis on the web–flange connection as a known fatigue-prone detail. A detailed finite element model of the crane and runway system is combined with code-consistent fatigue checks to compare the influence of di ff erent loading assumptions and weld detail classifications. The results show that horizontal actions, when treated as part of the regular operating cycle, can significantly increase fatigue utilisation and change the verification outcome, particularly for details with limited fatigue resistance and for unfavourable drive dynamics.

1. Introduction

Runway beams supporting overhead travelling cranes operate under repeated wheel passages and variable opera tional conditions. Fatigue cracking in crane runway systems is frequently reported in practice, as also mentioned by Rykaluk et al. (2018), and one of the vulnerable regions is the web–flange connection due to combined global bend ing e ff ects, local sti ff ness changes, and weld toe stress concentrations. In code-based design and assessment, fatigue

∗ Corresponding author E-mail address: roman1samchuk@gmail.com

2452-3216 © 2026 The Authors. Copy from the contract: Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of DMDP 2025 organizers 10.1016/j.prostr.2026.03.032