Residual life of steel structures and equipment: problems and application to cranes

Abstract

The paper starts by considering, in general, the problem of evaluating residual life of structures and equipment that may have reached or exceeded the end of their design life. Whilst the problem is encountered in many industrial sectors, references available for dealing with it are often limited. Selected European references potentially suitable for this purpose for steel structures and cranes are presented and discussed in this paper together with some of the practical problems faced by the engineers responsible for evaluating the residual life of equipment and structures. This includes an overview of FEM Crane Codes and European EN standards for steel structures and cranes, their methods for assessing fatigue lives and their application to evaluating residual lives. A procedure developed in France and in use for such purpose since 2003, an approach developed in Italy and approach taken by ISO 12482 standard are all reviewed next. Finally, the paper presents a general methodology for the assessment and management of residual life of existing equipment and structures that has been developed by CETIM (Technical Institute for Mechanical Industry) and concludes with an example of its application to an AIRBUS load manipulating device.