1. C.Teleman_ICE_S.S.III_Lecture6
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RUNWAY CRANE GIRDERS

2. Overhead crane girders for industrial
buildings (small lifting capacity)
TYPES OF RUNWAY (GANTRY) GIRDERS
Runway crane and girders: 1-crane bridge; 2- gantry
girder; 3- crab; 4- end carriage; 5- payload; l-span of
the crane bridge; a- spacing between the wheels of
the crane; L-bay of the building
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3. Section of runway girders for cranes with different loading: a)- hot rolled sections for light loads and
small bays: b) and c)- build up sections from hot rolled shapes; d) runway girder with horizontal
girder which delivers the reactions to the structural column ( heavy loads and big bays)
The crane girders are made of I (IPE) and build up sections for smaller bays and lighter cranes (6 m,
Q=50...100 kN). For bigger bays and lifting capacities of the cranes (9…12 m, Q200 kN) build-up cross
sections are used .
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TYPES OF GANTRY GIRDERS

4. Runway girder with horizontal girder made of
steel plate: 1- top flange of the crane girder; 2-
rail; 3- angle cleats for fixing the rail on top
flange; 4- thick chequered plate; 5- angle
stiffener; 6- joist supporting the plate between
two running columns; 7-angle supporting the
plate attached to the flange of the column; 8-
splice for thee bolted connection of the joist to
the column
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TYPES OF GANTRY GIRDERS

5. Runway girders with platform sustained of steel lattice girder: 1- welds done at site; 2- bolted
connection between the flange of the column and the elements of the horizontal lattice girder
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TYPES OF GANTRY GIRDERS

6. Different systems of fixing the rails on the crane girder: a), b) square rails welded continuously to the top
flange; c) - railway rails fixed with clamps; d), square rail fixed with angles fastened with bolts to the top
flange; e)- KP profile of rail; f)- railway rails on elastic support (1-neoprene pad); g) rails attached with
hooks to the top flange.
Minimum thickness tr
measured downwards from
the wear surface of the rail
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RAILS SYSTEMS

7. Buffers on the crane girders:
a)- for cranes carrying light loads and easier
working conditions; b), c) – for cranes
carrying heavy loads and hard working
conditions
EVALUATION OF THE DISTRIBUTED LOADS (ACTIONS) ON RUNWAY GIRDERS
L)30.0...15.0(g k,G 
 uniform distributed loads on the length of the girder [kN/m];
1) estimated characteristic value of the weight of the crane girder,
extracted from tables of hot rolled sections or evaluated during the sizing
procedure; for plate girders the following value may be adopted:
2) characteristic value of the weight of the rail (including the weight of
the connections); for a square section we may determine the weight:
3) characteristic values of weights of the elements of the horizontal
girder, in the case when they are part of the runway system, for ex.
weight of the chequered steel plate or of the elements of the horizontal
lattice girder. In all the cases the weight transferred to the runway girder
is considered from half of the width of the platform, the other half being
supported by the horizontal joists attached to external flanges of the
columns.
2
b
wg i
k,pk.p 
wp,k – weight of the chequered steel plate of mild steels from catalogue,
according with its thickness; for industrial purposes a minimum thickness is
required because of corrosion exposure;
bi – width of the column assimilated with the distance between the axis of
the rail of the runway and axis of the transversal frame
 live loads according to the EN 1991-3 recommendations:
 Point load Qk = 3.0 kN if materials are deposited on the platform and Qk =
1.5 kN if the platforms insure only the access.
 Forces resulted from other elements existing on the runway (like buffers,
a.s.o.).
15.17850hg 2
rk,r 
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8. Vertical loads cases Total wheel load on rail
Crane stationary, lifting the
payload
Crane moving with the load
i - impact factor;
f – partial safety factor for vertical crane actions;
Qmax – characteristic vertical wheel reaction from the hook load;
Gk – sum of the weight of the crane, rails and others
kf1maxf2 GQ  
 kfmaxf4 GQ  
MAXIMUM VERTICAL LOADS
Permanent loads:
- weight of the trolley (carriage) and the lifted load ;
- weight of the crane bridge;
- self-weight of the crane girder and rails;
- weight of the horizontal girder if this exists;
Live load on the platform if there is the case, Qk,i.
MAXIMUM HORIZONTAL LOADS
 Transverse surge from the crab ( the load is taken as 10% of the combined weight of the crab and the lifted
load);
 Longitudinal surge load from the crane (5% of the static vertical reactions, i.e. from the weight of the crab,
crane bridge and lifted load;
 Skew loads due to travelling; if the crane is class S1 or S2, then these forces would not need to be
considered.
Horizontal loads need not to be combined together.
Forces from the point loads acting on
the runway girder:
1- vertical actions on the wheels of
the crane; 2- horizontal longitudinal
actions from crane surge; 3-
horizontal transversal actions from
crab surge; 4- effect of skewing of the
crane; 5- crab
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9. COMBINATIONOFTHEVERTICALANDHORIZONTALLOADSINU.L.S.
Considering the recommendations for grouping the vertical with the horizontal loads, the following
combinations are:
 Dead loads (permanent) + live loads (accompanying variable) + vertical point loads from reactions
on the wheels (basic variable);
 Dead loads (permanent) + live loads (accompanying variable) + horizontal point loads from: crane
surge or crab surge or skew driving effects (as basic variables);
 Dead loads (permanent) + live loads (accompanying variable) + vertical point loads from reactions
on the wheels (basic variable) + horizontal point loads from: crane surge or crab surge or skew
driving effects (accompanying variable).
RELEVANT INTERNAL FORCES AND MOMENTS IN THE GIRDER
The concentrated forces being mobile influence lines will be used to determine the maximum bending
moments, shear forces and reactions on the supports.
During the process of determination of the position of the convoy of mobile forces that will lead to the
maximum bending moments some forces may remain outside the girder length. The factors that
influence these situations are mainly the wheel spacing, a, and the width of the end carriage, aw.
DESIGN VERIFICATIONS OF THE CRANE GIRDER
 Limit state of strength and stability:
 Lateral-torsional buckling
 Horizontal moment capacity
 Combined vertical and horizontal moments
 Web shear at supports
 Local compression under wheels
 Web bearing and buckling under the wheel and under the supports
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10. Determination of maximum internal efforts and bending
moments in the simple supported girders:
a) the translation of the convoy of mobile forces along the
girder for the position of maximum moment;
b) b)- influence lines for bending moments and shear forces (in
case of three mobile forces on the girder).
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11. VERIFICATIONSINS.L.S.
 Vertical deflection of a crane girder under static vertical wheel loads
 Horizontal deflection under the transversal loads
600
L
lim,v 
500
L
lim,h 
 Fatigue verification is run according to EN 1993-1-9
THE EFFECTS OF THE ACTIONS FROM CRANES ON THE GIRDERS
I. Biaxial bending produced by the vertical and longitudinal transversal actions;
II. Axial compression or tension produced by the horizontal longitudinal actions;
III. Torsion produced by horizontal transversal forces eccentrically applied with respect to the shear
center of the cross section of the girder;
IV. Horizontal and vertical shear forces, produced by the corresponding actions;
V. Local stresses produced by the weighing forces, statically applied from the wheels on the top of
the rail.
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12. Local stresses in the web of the crane girder produced by vertical loads on
the wheel at the top flange
Local compression stresses, 0z,Ed
wteffl
Ed,zF
Ed,oz 

Extending the length of distribution of the local stresses on the depth of the crane girder
Case Description
Effective length of
distribution leff
1 The rail is fully restrained to the top flange
2 The rail is partially restrained to the top
flange
3 The rail is placed on a flexible neoprene pad
of 6mm thickness
If,eff – moment of inertia of the flange of the crane girder with effective width beff
with respect to its horizontal neutral axis;
Ir – moment of inertia of the rail with respect to its horizontal neutral axis;
Irf – moment of inertia of the cross section obtained from the flange of the crane
girder with effective width beff and the rail with respect to its horizontal neutral
axis;
tw – thickness of the web
but
Where: b – total width of the top flange of the crane girder;
bfr – width of the rail, see fig. 2;
hr – height of the rail, see fig. 1;
tf – thickness of the flange of the beam.
Note: the wear of the rail must be considered
  3
1
wreff tI25.3l 
   3
1
weff,freff tII25.3l 
   3
1
weff,freff tII25.4l 
frfreff thbb  bbeff 
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13. Local shear stresses,0xz,Ed
Local and global shear stresses produced by the vertical forces
transferred from the wheel to the crane girder: 1- global shear
stresses; 2-local shear stresses; 3- position of the load on the wheel
Local stresses of bending produced by the eccentricity of application of the loads on
the wheel, T,Ed
  tanh
2
wat
EdT6
Ed,T 
 
 
5.0
awh2awh2sinh
awh2sinh
tI
2
wat75.0















 yEd,zEd eFT 
Torsion of the top flange of the crane girder
Strength verifications of the crane girders
0.1
f
3
ffff
2
My
Ed
My
Ed,z
My
Ed,x
2
My
Ed,z
2
My
Ed,x
00000





















































 0.1
M
M
M
M
N
N
Rd,z
Ed,z
Rd,y
Ed,y
Rd
Ed

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14. Axial internal efforts
Rd,tEd NN 
2M
ufTF,netA9.0
Rd,uN
;
0M
yf
TFARd,plN
)Rd,uN,Rd,plNmin(Rd,tN






Rd,cNEdN 
0M
yf
TFARd,plNRd,cN


Shear resistance of the top flange Rd,cVEdV 
0M3
yf
TFARd,plVRd,yV


Shear resistance of the web in elastic or plastic; buckling in shear of the web
1
0M3yf
Ed 










72
t
h
w
w

  Rd,pl
My
Ed,t
Rd,T,pl V
/3f25.1
1V
0



0.1
V
V
Rd,T,pl
Ed

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15. C.Teleman_ICE_S.S.III_Lecture6
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