The Effect of Varying Contacting Edge Radii Versus Lifting Capacity of Wire Mesh Slings
Open Access
- Author:
- Van Name, Joshua
- Graduate Program:
- Mechanical Engineering
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- June 11, 2024
- Committee Members:
- Brian Maicke, Professor in Charge/Director of Graduate Studies
Ahm E Rahman, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Issam Abu-Mahfouz, Committee Member
Amit Banerjee, Committee Member - Keywords:
- sling
slings
lifting
plasticity
dynamic simulation
edge radius
edge radii
wire mesh
load bearing capacity
lifting capacity - Abstract:
- Lifting equipment can exhibit a reduction in lifting capacity when the lifting force reacts against an edge of a load that may not be of adequate size. The objective of this thesis was to quantify the extent to which varying edge radii sizes may affect the lifting capacity of wire mesh lifting equipment. There are little guidelines and recommendations for the use of wire mesh slings near edges; other forms of lifting equipment have detailed, and specific standards related to this topic. The existing literature is presented and discussed. In this work, wire mesh slings are subjected to experimental destructive tensile testing and finite element simulations in ANSYS; the results of these tests were compared, and simulations were further utilized to supplement the experimental testing. In the experimental tests, the peak load at failure was recorded and was used to determine the tension in the sling at the time of destruction; then, this tension was related to the pure tensile tests of a control group average and a reduction in tensile strength was calculated. Straight pull (vertical hitch) simulations were performed for determining the tensile reductions of the simulated geometry and material. The experimental tests show that up to a 33.6% reduction in tensile strength may occur when using a wire mesh sling in a basket configuration around a load with edges. The simulation results show that up to a 37.8% reduction in tensile strength may occur if the edges of the load do not deform. There was a nice agreement observed between the experimental and simulation test results. A percent error of 5.2% was achieved in the comparison between the maximum straight pull test result of the experimental tests and the straight pull test result of the simulations. Additionally, the absolute error in maximum percent reduction of tensile strength was found to be 4.2%. The results show that wire mesh slings should be downrated or protected when used to lift a load when in direct contact with edges of insufficient radii.