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24 m Double-Girder Box Bridge Crane
Verification of web plate shear buckling, vertical deflection limits, and transverse diaphragm stiffness for a 50-ton overhead box-girder crane.
Heavy overhead bridge cranes span wide industrial bays and must combine strict vertical deflection limits (L/1000) with light structural weight to reduce wheel loads on building runways. Slender vertical web plates in welded box girders are prone to shear buckling under moving trolley wheel loads and lateral inertial braking thrust. WebCAE verifies the complete assembly: top and bottom flanges, web plates, 26 internal plate diaphragms, crane rails, and crab trolley framework.
1. Geometry & FEA Mesh
- •24.0 m crane span with 4.6 m end truck wheelbase; two welded box girders (0.6 m width, 1.4 m depth) spaced at 3.2 m centers
- •Plating: 16 mm top compression flange, 14 mm bottom tension flange, 10 mm webs, 26 transverse diaphragms (t = 10 mm, step 2.0 m), and 5 mm walkway
- •Beam elements: crane rails (I-beam 140×120 mm), longitudinal web tee stiffeners 100×60 mm, end carriage boxes, and walkway handrails
- •FEA model comprising 832 MITC4 quadrilateral shell elements and 321 Timoshenko beam elements (5,609 DOFs)
2. Loads & Boundary Conditions
- •Simply supported boundary conditions at 4 crane wheel contact nodes on runway rail tracks (x = 0 and x = 24 m)
- •Full 50 t (500 kN) rated hook load applied at crab trolley wheels located at critical midspan (x = 10..14 m)
- •Lateral braking force Fy = 50 kN combined with 12 t trolley dead weight and girder self-weight
3. Simulation Results & Findings
- ✓Critical buckling factor λ₁ = 10.38 confirms extensive safety against localized web plate shear wrinkling
- ✓Fundamental vertical bending frequency f₁ = 3.004 Hz ensures smooth hoisting operation without structural bouncing
- ✓Midspan vertical deflection under full 50 t hook load meets strict crane design limits (f_max < L/1000 = 24 mm)
Crane manufacturing plants and heavy machinery design bureaus use WebCAE to optimize bridge crane box girder dimensions and diaphragm spacing in minutes. Accurate coupled shell-beam analysis eliminates excess plate thickness, saving up to 4 tons of steel per crane while meeting ISO 4301 and CMAA 70 standards.
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