Spreader beams

If a spreader beam is not used, the minimum sling angle shall be 30° from the horizontal position. At 30°, the tension in each sling is equal to the total design load. Thus a load factor of 2 is mandatory for these cases. This requires that each lug be designed for the full load. 

Crane mats 16. Spreader beams 28. Hitch plate... 

Where production items are regularly lifted, lifting and spreader beams can be used, specially designed for the purpose. Standard lifting beams (Fig. 20.17a) or spreader beams (Fig. 20.17b) are used to give a vertical lift where the lifting points are too far apart to use slings. 

Where repeated lifts of a particular load are made, special lifting beams and equipment such as spreader beams (Figure 27.14) may be used. 

Ensure safe attachment of rigging devices, such as shackles, hooks, eyebolts, spreader beams and slings, wedge socket, and wire rope clips. 

A finite element analysis was performed for the overall behaviour in bending under actual conditions of support of the panel and for the compression test on the central longitudinal stiffener. Shell 63 elements (4 nodes, 6 dof s per node) were used to model the panel, and Beam 4 elements (2 nodes, 6 dof s per node) were used to model the brackets at the corners. The material properties used were those computed from the theory, taking into account the orthotropic features of the panel. The load applied for the simulation of the bending test was a pressure distributed on elements corresponding to the area in contact with the spreaders during the experiments. 

Figure 27.14 Spreader and equaliser beams. (Source Dickie and Short )...

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