Similarities between fatigue of ropes on sheaves and damage of ropes pressed by grips

RoundTable – ENDURANCE RESEARCH OF WIRE ROPE AND ITS PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS – Glasgow 1985

 The comparison is worth between the use of ropes on steel sheaves, as for instance on hoisting devices, and the use of ropes pressed by fixed grips because in both cases the damage on the rope is the consequence of the contact pressure repeated during the movement of the rope. That is the contact of the wires on the sheave in one case and on the edges of the grips in the other case causes a bearing pressure peculiarly high in some places of the wires, and the repetition of that pressure causes the fatigue effect in the steel and eventually the breakage of wires. The endurance of ropes on steel sheaves is well known from a wide experimentation on test machines and thus such knowledge can provide criterions for the best use of grips.

Author: M. Thaon Di Revel