Scientific Journal of Impact Factor(SJIF): 3.

134 e-ISSN(O): 2348-4470

p-ISSN(P): 2348-6406

International Journal of Advance Engineering and Research

Development
Volume 2,Issue 11, Novem ber -2015

Finite Element Analysis Of 450T EOT Crane Box Girder

Patel Khalidurfeasif1 , Deepali Bharti2
1 M.Tech student, Mechanical engineering Department, Sri Satya Sai Collage of Engineering, RKDF University Bhopal,
2 HOD, Mechanical engineering Department, Sri Satya Sai Collage of Engineering, RKDF University, Bhopal,

Abstract —FEA(finite element analysis) of double box girder has been done in this paper and a comparative study of
results of finite element analysis and analytical calculation of a crane with 450 ton capacity and 27.2 m span length has
been conducted. It is not possible for the real experimental studies to take into consideration the influence of the
connections between the main beams and the rest parts of the construction, the influence of the longitudinal and
transverse ribbings as well as the influence of the supports on the overall stressed state of the construction. Moreover,
the researches that use for the majority of the test cases different strain measurements turn out to be quite hard and
expensive. All these problems could be solved successfully by the use of computer modeling procedures. With regard to
this, the creation of 3-D models for researching and analyzing the behavior of an overhead crane box girder, becomes
the main goal of the present work. In the initial phase of the study, conventional design calculations proposed by Indian
Standard Rules are performed. The crane design is modeled with solids, Loads and boundary conditions are applied to
solid model. Assign material to the solid model. Finite Element meshes are generated from the solid model. After a
comparison of the finite element analyses, and the convention al calculations, the analysis is found to give the most
realistic results. As a result o f this study, a design of an overhead crane box girder is within the permissible limit as per
Indian standards.

Keywords-EOT Crane Bridge, Optimal Box Girder, Duty factor, Impact factor, Rails, End Carriage, FEA

I. INTRODUCTION
A crane is a mechanical lifting device equipped with a winder, wire ropes and sheaves that can be used both to lift
and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It uses one or more simp le mach ines to create mechanical advantage
and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of a hu man. Cranes are co mmonly employed in the t ransport industry
for the loading and unloading off weight; in the construction industry for the movement of materials; and in the
manufacturing industry for the assembling of heavy equipment. It serves a larger area of floor space within its own
travelling restrictions than any other permanent type hoisting arrangement. The primary task of the overhead crane is to
handle and transfer heavy payloads fro m one position to another. The escalating price of structural material is a global
problem, wh ich cannot be considered redundant. Overhead crane, which is associated with material handling in the
industrial environ ment, utilizes structural steel for its girder fabrication. Light girder for overhead cranes saves material
cost resulting into trim down the overall expenditure of the structural steel construction, civil construction as well as the
electrical consumption. The general procedure fo r design of EOT crane girders is acco mplished through t he use of codes
and standards. 3D-modeling of overhead crane box girder structure and finite element analysis has been done to find the
displacements and stress values by analysis software's. Further with respect to the design optimization of overhead EOT
crane box girder has been proposed.
II. OVERHEAD CRANE WITH DOUB LE BOX GIRDER
Overhead travelling EOT crane consist of three primary motions i.e. hoisting, long travel and cross travel. A double
girder EOT crane is built of welded bo x type construction with structural steel plate.

Figure 1 - EOT Crane Structure

A double box girder is fitted to end carriage assembly by means of nuts and bolts. A trolley assembly is placed
on the rails wh ich are welded to double-box girder. The overhead EOT crane system is illustrated in Fig.1. The double

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 International Journal of Advance Engineer ing and Research Development (IJAERD)
Volume 2,Issue 11, Novem ber -2015, e-ISSN: 2348 - 4470 , print-ISSN:2348-6406

box girders are subjected to transverse and lateral loads by the self-weight of the crane, the rated (hook) load, the self
weight of trolley and the dynamic loads. With a double box girder construction, the trolley runs above the girders. A
typical section of bo x girder and d iaphragms are shown in Fig.2 and Fig.3. A 450 -ton-capacity overhead crane of overall
length 22.7 m is selected for design optimizat ion. Init ially the self-mass of crane girder is found to be 36.628 tons. The
overhead crane consists of two girders, two end carriage assemblies to connect them, and a trolley moving in the
longitudinal direction of the overhead crane and wheels. The overhead crane is supported by two rails and the runway
girders installed in building. In order to calculate the stress in the structure, the rules of I.S. 3177:1999, I.S. 807:2006 and
I.S.800:2007 are applied.

Figure 2-Main Girder Assembly

Figure3-Diaphragms

III. INTRODUCTION TO FINITE EL EMENT METHOD

FEA has become co mmon place in recent years. Nu merical solution to even very complicated stress problems can
now be obtained routinely using FEA, and the method is so important that even introductory treatments of mechanics of
materials.FEA is a mathemat ical representation of a physical system comp rising a part/assembly (model), material
properties and applicable boundary conditions (collectively referred to as pre -processing), the solution of that
mathematical representation (solving), and the study of results of that solution (post-processing).
The fin ite element analysis usually consists of three principal steps:
1. Pre-processing : In this process FEA software typically uses a CAD representation of the physical model and
breaks it down into s mall p ieces called finite ‘elements'. Th is process is called as meshing. Higher quality of
mesh, the better mathematical representation of physical model.
2. Analysis: FEA software constructs and solves a system of linear or nonlinear algebraic equations.
3. Post-processing: it is used to create graphical displays that show the distribution of stresses, strains,
deformations, temperatures, and other aspects of the model.

IV. 3-D MODELING AND FEA OF OVERHEAD CRANE B RIDGE

Co mputer aided design (CAD) is the use of computer technology for the design of objects, real or virtual.CAD may
be used to design curves and figures in two -dimensional ("2D") space or curves surfaces and solids in three-dimensional
("3D") objects. Modern CA D packages can also frequently allow rotat ions in three dimensions, allowing viewing of a
designed object fro m any desired angle, even fro m the inside looking out. A mong all CAD Soft ware's I have selected
PRO-ENGINEER developed by PTC, which is parametric, feature -based, associative solid modeling software in the
market and is a very user friendly tool. The finite element method is a numerical procedure that can be applied to obtain
approximate solutions to a variety of problems in engineering. Steady, transient, linear or nonlinear problems in str ess
analysis, heat transfer and fluid flo w problems may be analy zed with finite element methods. First, the crane bridge is
modeled as a solid. Solid modeling of overhead double box Crane Bridge has been done as per technical specifications.
The solid model is shown Fig.2.
For getting the results from stress analysis, the following tasks are performed as fo llo ws.

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 International Journal of Advance Engineer ing and Research Development (IJAERD)
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In Pre-processing, first of all adopt CAD model of main girder wh ich is made in Pro -e wild fire 4.0 to ANSYS workbench
11.0. First assign the material for the each part of the box girder. I.S. 2062 material has applied to girder parts. Hex
dominant method is selected for meshing of main girder having a size of 25mm. Later, a mesh s created. The numbers of
nodes are created 1176296 and the elements are 48365. The solid meshed model is shown Fig.4

Figur4-Meshing of Girder

For Analysis displacement and load condition for the main girder assembly are applied after meshing in next step. The
plates are as shown in Fig.5 are fixed and degree of freedo m of the assembly is zero. Contact condition of bo x girder set
to bonded (welded) has been set.

Figure5-Fixed support for Girder

we have taken two load conditions for main girder, in case-1 load is applied at centre of girder and in case-2 load is
applied at extreme end of the girder.
Load Case-1: 3.62396e+006N load applied at centre of girder in down ward direct ion with zero degree of freedom as
shown in Fig.6.
Vertical forces due to lifted loads
For a class II M5 crane, the Impact factor in vert ical p lane = 1.32, Duty factor = 1.06
Load in a vertical direction= impact factor × lifted load
= 1.32×450
= 594 T
Total load acting vertically down ward
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= (duty factor × load in vertical direction) + weight of crab assembly

= (1.06×594) +110
=739.64 T

Figure6- load case-1

Load Case-2: 3.62396e+006N load applied at ext reme end of the girder in down ward d irection with zero degree of
freedom. ( either left or right)

Figure7- load case-2

Self weight of girder is shown in Fig.8.

Figure8-self weight of girder

Horizontal force due to longitudinal travel of structure is shown in Fig.9.

For a class II M5crane, the horizontal forces due to crane travel in longitudinal d irection are given as
= β×0.01 (v) 1/2 ,
V=longitudinal travel speed of crane=40 m/ min
Therefore β= 0.0632
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 International Journal of Advance Engineer ing and Research Development (IJAERD)
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Force value = 0.0632 × (lifted load + total weight of crane)

= 0.0632 × (450+276)
= 45.88 T
Considering the effect of duty factor
Total force= 1.06 × 45.88 = 48.63T

Figure9-Horizontal force applied as acceleration action on girder

V. Results From a 3-D Girder Model With a Hex dominant Element

Load of 3.62396e+006N has applied on the top flange of the girder and a grav ity force had applied.
As per IS 2062 for mild steel the maximu m permissible stress is 250Mpa and Factor of safety is taken as 1.4.
Allowab le stress = maximu m permissible stress / factor of safety
= 250/ 1.4
=178.57 M Pa
Hex dominant element is used for fin ite element analysis, using the girder solid model generated by means of ANSYS
Workbench 11.0. It is clearly seen fro m the stress diagram that the maximu m stresses is developed at the support. Girder
maximu m stress is 383.41 MPa Case-1 shown in Fig.10.and 490.24 M Pa in Case-2 shown in Fig.11. Which is at edge of
fixed plate so it is negligib le, average stress on whole girder is 156.28 MPa.

Figure10-Equivalent stress for girder Case-1

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 International Journal of Advance Engineer ing and Research Development (IJAERD)
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Figure11-Equivalent stress for girder Case-2

The span of crane is 27200mm, the maximu m vertical deflection of the girder produced by the dead load, weight
of the trolley and rated load shall not exceed 1/750 of the span of the crane for more than 12 meters.
So maximu m vertical deflection = span × (1/ 750)
=27200 × (1/ 750)
=36.27mm
Maximu m allo wable deflection as per standard is 36.27mm.
The displacement of the modeled overhead crane girder is obtained from Finite Element Analysis, and is
occurring at the mid span of the girder, illustrated in Fig.12 and Fig.13. Total deflect ion is 24.463 mm for Case 1 and
9.778 mm for Case 2 which is less than 36.26 mm achieved without compro mising the strength and rigidity. We can
reduce the overall mass of the girder. As the overall mass of the girder has reduced, the initial cost for the structural
building, civil work and electrical consumption for the crane has also reduced.

Figure12-Total deformation for girder Case-1

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Figure13-Total deformation for girder Case-2

Table 1
Sr. Description Allowab le Parameters Results Fro m FEA
No. as Per IS:3177 & IS:807
1 Maximu m Stress 178.57 MPa 156.28 MPa
2 Maximu m deflection case 1 36.26 mm 24.463 mm
3 Maximu m deflection case 2 36.26 mm 9.778 mm

Table 1 Comparison Between Allowable Values And Finite Element Results

VI. CONCLUS ION

In this paper, the comparison between the analytical calculations and the finite element analysis re sults are
investigated table 1. Fro m the above comparison between the allowable parameters of Indian Standard codes and the
results of finite element analysis of re-designed box girder, it is clearly seen that the maximu m stress &displacement
which is obtained fro m the Finite Element Analysis are within the allowab le limit of the Indian standard codes. The
safety factor is on higher side against the Indian standard codes. Thus from the above results, I can state that the design
optimization of EOT crane bo x girder had been safe.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author would like to express sincere thanks to project guide Prof. Deepali Bhart i, Head of Mechanical Depart ment,
Sri Satya Sai Co llege of Engineering, RKDF University, Bhopal for their proper direction & continuo us support.

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