Lebensdauer kunststoffummantelter Drahtseile

Abstract

Abstract (E): Steel wire ropes perform key functions in many fields of material handling. The single strands are subject to mechanical loads due to tension, compression and bending stresses in its function as running wire ropes. During the rolling movement over a rope sheave the wire rope is fatigued. Combined with the rubbing wear and other influencing factors wire ropes have a limited lifetime. Therefore, steel wire ropes are not considered as fatigue endurable. Wire ropes must not be applied in the industrial application until reaching the end of its lifetime to avoid any danger for people and machinery. The lifetime of a rope is defined until rope or strand fracture. Current standards include discard criteria for conventional steel wire ropes to ensure the replacement of the damaged wire rope before rope failure. Current practical experiences have shown that innovative rope construction with plastic coating extend the service time and lifetime compared to conventional ropes without coating. Existing standards and mathematically approaches for estimating the service time and lifetime do not allow consideration of plastic coated ropes. Therefore, the standards and methods must be adapted and extended. The service life and lifetime of running wire ropes can be experimentally investigated by means of bending fatigue test. Complex stress conditions within a wire rope and the influence of the plastic coating can be simulated with the help of finite element analysis. This provides import knowledge about the rope behaviour during its performance.