Evaluation of large-scale load-carrying structures of machines with the application of the dynamic effects factor
(*) Tekst artykułu w polskiej wersji językowej dostępny w elektronicznym wydaniu kwartalnika na stronie www.ein.org.pl in the construction industry which are usually designed to transfer only static loads and thus only need to fulfill the ultimate strength requirement. Dynamic loads accelerate the progressing degradation of the load-carrying structure, which is manifested in an increasing number of fatigue cracks. Fig 1 shows an example of a fracture and its location. Such faults are difficult to spot and if the fracture is located in a critical area, it can grow uncontrollably and lead to a catastrophic failure. A fracture similar to the one in Fig. 1 caused the catastrophe of the KWK 1400 excavator (Fig. 2). Such load-carrying structures are most often found in the mining, rock processing or bulk material handling industry. The situation in this case is even more special because some of the basic technological processes (e.g. excavating, crushing) are very often subject to large dynamic loads [15, 16]. Due to the environment in which such machines most often operate, it is difficult to use solutions that are effective at reducing vibrations but are not susceptible to damage [2, 48]. In addition, the design of load-carrying structure can be prone to excitation [7,17] (e.g. long-span superstructures of surface mining machines). Such machines are still being designed in accordance with standards from the 1980s, which define the dynamic effects factor, which, in turn, is used in calculations of fatigue life. Both the definition of this factor and its assumed values, in accordance with the standards, do not reflect the actual operating conditions. This is manifested in the occurrence of numerous cracks in superstructures [1, 12, 37] and undercarriage structures[1, 4, 13, 46]. Over the years several studies have been carried out aimed at solving this problem
Diagnostics of bucket wheel excavator discharge boom dynamic performance and its reconstruction
This work is partially supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of Serbia grants nos. TR35040, TR35030 and E!6761.
Latent reactions in suspensions systems of vibratory machines supported by leaf springs.
The paper discusses an occurrence of latent reactions in the direction perpendicular to the movement of the suspension systems in vibratory machines supported by parallel leaf springs. These reactions occur despite an apparent lack of any forces acting in that direction and may  for long machine bodies  reach values comparable with the exciting force of the vibrator. Analytical relationships allowing for estimation of the value of reactions were derived. The obtained results were verified by means of the Geometric Element Method as well as by the performed experiments.