PSI - Issue 57

Francis Blanc et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 57 (2024) 343–354 Francis BLANC / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2019) 000 – 000

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The measuring equipment set up for the test campaign is as follows: - a load cell to measure tensile force during testing, - a laser displacement transducer to measure the displacement of the test bench's mobile carriage, - a camera aimed at targets installed in the central part of the rope to measure the rope elongation.

Figure 2: Static test bench

3.2. Fatigue test bench

Bending fatigue tests are performed on the test bench designed by CETIM (French Technical Center for Mechanical Industries) for the Handling, Lifting and Storage commission. This test rig enables bending or counter-bending tests to be carried out with 1, 2 or 3 pulleys of varying diameters, mounted on a support block ( Figure 3). The rope is driven by a motorized winch located at the top of the tower. This winch comprises a motor, a gearbox, an elastic coupling and a drum mounted on 2 oscillating bearings. A revolution counter is also located at the end of the winch. The tensile force is produced by a hydraulic cylinder actuator placed at the bottom of the structure and instrumented in force and displacement. A pulley support block is mounted on a pivot at the upper end of the hydraulic cylinder. A dynamometric sensor has been added between the hydraulic cylinder and the support block in order to improve the precision of the force measurement. A counterweight system has been added to balance the weight of the pulley support.