GANTREX TECHNICAL BULLETIN No.

TB47

Crane Rail Inspection

There are virtually no North American standards regarding the inspection and replacement of rails used for overhead and gantry cranes, transfer cars and other types of rail-mounted material handling equipment other than railroads. There are gauges, programs, systems and algorithms to measure rail wear on railroad rails, but very little of it can be used on the unique profiles of crane rails. Private companies may have their own internal standards, and some crane manufacturers have paddled out into this deep water, but perhaps some new industry consensus standards are needed on this topic. Most crane rails are inspected and/or replaced based on the instinct or experience of the user. This approach can lead either to the premature replacement of rails or major problems caused by waiting too long to replace a rail or system. Bad rails can result in damage to the crane or structure, increased emergency downtime and unplanned and excessive costs. Rails that are replaced before they need to be is like leaving money on the table. International Standards There are some international standards that address the issue of crane rail inspection, and these should be examined for possible use in North America. ISO 9927-1:2009 covers crane inspections, ISO 8686-1 addresses crane design principles for loads and load combinations. Both mention inspecting rails, but offer little more than theoretical suggestions based on limiting crane skew caused by rail wear.

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Damaged Crane Rail Splice Joint For member countries of the European Union, the broad guidelines known as the, Machinery Directive require that the manufacturer shall give the wear limits of equipment in the maintenance manual. Anyone who has been around cranes and runways knows that one of the big problems is figuring out who is the manufacturer or responsible party for any crane component below the wheels. The international consensus standards provide little help in determining how to inspect and when to replace crane rails.

At present, there are no North American Standards regarding the inspection and replacement of rails used for cranes.

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No. TB47

Crane Rail Inspection

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FRA Study There is also a 1998 report, published by the United States Department of Transportation, via the Federal Railway Administration titled, Estimation of Rail Wear Limits Based on Rail Strength Limitations. This report considers the fracture strength of rails, but pertains mostly to heavy railroad rail. These numbers were derived based on analytical tests conducted on heavy rail sections that are typically used as railroad rails. The summary of this 1998 document concludes that rail should be replaced after an allowable wear of 0.5 inches of head loss or 0.6 inches of face loss. The entire report can be viewed at the following government web site: www.fra.dot.gov . Whiting Crane Handbook The Whiting Crane Handbook is a great resource for information on overhead and gantry cranes. It also contains some general guidelines as to runway maintenance and repair, but offers little guidance with specific rail issues. All too often, a rail is not replaced until the rail sweep or end truck bottoms out, and these repairs must be done on a costly emergency basis. AIST Efforts One group that is currently working on the issue of rail inspections with two ongoing projects is the Association for Iron & Steel Technology, (AIST). The Cranes Technology Committee (CTC) of AIST are the producers of Technical Report #6 for the design of overhead cranes and Technical Report #13, which covers mill buildings, including crane runways. CTC sponsored a recent survey of crane users to determine rail

inspection practices and criteria. The results of the study confirmed that the methods of inspection and replacement criteria are varied by crane user and no real or replacement criteria exist. The survey also confirmed that the most prudent crane users inspect their rails and runways at least once per year, along with the crane annual inspection. Rail splice joints are given particular attention, since they are often the source of many rail problems, leading to damage to the overall rail system and to the crane itself. Misalignment of the crane wheels and/or rails will also often create readily observable problems, but by this time, it is often too late to repair any one component and can be solved only replacing rails or wheels. The survey also indicated that many users find information from the Crane Manufacturers Association of America, (CMAA) to be helpful in terms of runway alignment tolerances. (In particular, see the Maximum Runway Tolerances chart in Specification #70.) The most significant conclusion derived from the AIST survey and research is that there should be a limit to the amount of rail wear, after which replacement should be considered before severe problems arise. The follow-on effort to the survey by the AIST committee is the development of an extensive new technical report with a working title of Crane Inspection, Maintenance and Repair Guidelines. The intent of this document is to describe methods of inspection and replacement criteria for all aspects of overhead cranes, and it will include a significant section on rails and runways. This new technical report could be available as early as 2013 from AIST.

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GANTREX TECHNICAL BULLETIN

No. TB47

Crane Rail Inspection

Absent any other replacement criteria, the 25% rule should be used as a worst case scenario.

rail when it was new. This can be done by referencing specification sheets for the given rail size, or by simply measuring the rail at a point, such as the very ends that see little or no crane travel. The 25% Rule One possible method to determine the amount of allowable rail wear is based on the wheel load charts found in the Whiting Crane Handbook. It can be derived that if a given rail loses 25% of its overall mass, the rail selection would drop one complete rail size category, based solely on the mass of the smaller rail as it pertains to the wheel load. Said in another way, if a rail is worn to the extent that 25% of its mass is has disappeared, the wheel load would exceed the amount listed for that rail size. While this is a basic principle, it can serve as a lower limit of rail fitness for duty. Actual values may vary, based on the completion of the research, but one large crane manufacturer already uses this criteria when training crane inspectors regarding rail inspection. From a practical view, the point at which a given heavy rail should be replaced is most likely well before an aggregate loss of material. According to the FRA study, a 0.5 loss of head dimension alone would account for 25% of the rail mass alone. Absent any obvious cracking or damage, the 25% rule could be used as a maximum amount of allowable rail wear. Conclusion Further study to determine more exacting values of replacement should be considered by the various technical committees responsible for crane, rail and runway design. END.
Rev 0 = 4/24/12

Rail Wear Types The two most common types of rail wear are plastic deformation and edge wear. Each will occur in every crane rail application, the severity of which depends on the loading and duty cycle of a particular runway. Both types of wear actually displace or remove metal from the rail surface. The results of this wear over a long period of time can weaken the rails to the point that further damage may occur, leading to failure. Obvious Signs of Crane Rail Failure There are several failures of crane rail that can be easily identified by a visual inspection of the rail. These include breaks in the rail, cracks in the rail head and propagating cracks from splice bolt holes. Other obvious signs include the aforementioned bottoming of rail sweeps and end trucks caused by severe wear of the rail over long periods of use. By the time these conditions are discovered, the cost and downtime of emergency repairs is high, and a better method to determine when a rail should be changed is needed. Perhaps the simplest way to determine the amount of wear on a crane rail is to measure the dimensions of the rail and compare them to the dimensions of the

Rail wear gauge, but only for railroad rails.

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