PSI - Issue 75

Elena Sidorov et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 75 (2025) 276–288 Elena Sidorov et al. / Structural Integrity Procedia (2025)

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6. Further numerical investigations on full-scale crane runway beams 6.1. Crane runway beam without transverse stiffeners

In the following, the numerical flange strains of the test specimen type 1 will be compared with the flange strains of a full-scale crane runway beam with the same cross-sectional dimensions (HEA 280, rail 50 × 30 mm, chain intermittent rail welds a = 5 mm). This comparison is supposed to reveal possible 3D effects that might be suppressed by the investigated small-scale test specimens. In a crane runway beam, the load is distributed by the rail and the flange along the longitudinal beam axis, while the small-scale test specimens represent a plane stress state without any load distribution in longitudinal direction. The FE model of the full-scale crane runway beams has already been described by Sidorov & Euler (2024). In Figure 10, it can be recognised that the beam model (thin line) gives smaller flange strains than the FE-model of the small-scale specimens (thick line). Obviously, the aforementioned 3D effect is significant for the investigated geometry. Thus, the nominal stress of the rail welds in a crane runway beam is assumed to be smaller due to a more favourable load distribution.

Fig. 10. Comparison of the numerically determined vertical flange strains of the full-scale crane runway beam (HEA 280, rail 50 × 30 mm, chain intermittent rail welds a = 5 mm) and the corresponding flange strains of test specimen type 1 as shown in Fig. 8a. Note: The grey highlighted zones represent the flange regions underneath the rail welds. 6.2. Crane runway beam with transverse stiffeners The existing FE model of Sidorov & Euler (2024) is slightly modified by simulating a transverse stiffener at the load introducing cross-section by implementing additional vertical supports at midspan as shown in Figure 11a and Figure 11b. It is assumed that the modified global beam bending due to the different structural system in comparison with the case without transverse stiffener does not affect the vertical flange strains significantly. The flange strains of the transversely stiffened crane runway beam is additionally illustrated in Figure 10c that are significantly higher than