Lifetime calculation of high-modulus fibre ropes

Manufacturers as well as users of lifting equipment and systems have the aim of introducing high-modulus fibre ropes because of their high strength to weight ratio and life. Therefore, it is necessary to know the lifetime of the ropes when bent over sheaves. Like with wire ropes, bending tests can be done that reflect the actual situation in specific rope drives. However, the above mentioned high lifetime of running fibre ropes leads to long running bending tests.

Also, it is not appropriate to perform bending tests for every possible combination of parameters. Therefore, a method is needed to estimate the lifetime of a running fibre rope with a minimum of testing work. The paper will introduce the results of an investigation regarding the above mentioned method to estimate the lifetime of a running fibre rope. The investigations include the analysis of which set of parameters should be used, how far the estimations can be used and with what accuracy. This paper is mainly based on research that is, at the time of this paper, an ongoing work that will be concluded in 2017.

Author(s): Novak, G., Wehr, M. & Wehking, K.-H.