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Traditional crane management in the US is based upon periodic inspection, routine maintenance and (depending on regulation) load testing up to 125% of safe working load. Periodic inspection tends to limit itself to the externally visible structure and the mechanical components. Proof load testing of cranes gives a snapshot of the assets capability at the time of testing and an overview of the general mechanical condition satisfying local regulations. It does not give any information with regard to the internal structural integrity of the asset or indeed any future structural verification. Many facility cranes that were installed decades ago are now reaching the end of their design life. This leaves the alternatives of replacement or life extension to support the extended life of the facilities they serve. Water Weights Inc. works with Imes who approaches the management of cranes in a different way. This approach requires a full understanding of the structural integrity of the asset, the effect of corrosion on the rated capacity, an assessment of fatigue cycle history and a thorough understanding of the remaining life of the asset. The Imes technology has the capability to establish these parameters for existing cranes and is able to develop a long term management plan to achieve the maximum life from these assets. The capability of the asset is determined by inspection using visual, acoustic and other non-destructive techniques (depending on the particular asset). This is coupled with a corrosion study and the degraded material properties are modeled in a Finite Element package. This model is used to determine the capacity and capability of the asset as it currently is, compare it to its original design code and establish its performance against current design codes.
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