Finite element and experimental analysis of pinion bracket-assembly of three gorges project ship lift

Abstract

The pinion bracket-assembly (PBA) is a major part of three gorges project (TGP) ship lift drive system. The static strength, fatigue strength and stress distribution of hinge pin of PBA were analyzed by ANSYS, and the structure of PBA was optimized. The results show that after the optimization, the maximum comprehensive stress is 259.59 MPa, the maximum fatigue cumulative damage of weld joints is 0.94 and the maximum vertical deformation of hinge pin is 0.14 mm. The elastic deformation, hydropneumatic spring cylinder (HSC) load response and the vibration characteristics of PBA were studied by the bearing test when PBA bore the load caused by different water level errors. The results indicate that when the water level of ship chamber ranges from 3.4 m to 3.6 m, the vertical elastic deformation of the pinion shaft is between −8.58 and 10.50 mm. When upward outage-load(1580 kN) is imposed by the test-rack, the vertical elastic deformation of the pinion shaft is 13.42 and 14.07 mm and HSC load response is 795.80–800.80 kN. In the process of imposing load on the pinion by the test-rack, the maximum vibration amplitude and acceleration of PBA internal components are 0.37° and 2.67 rad/s², respectively; the maximum impact on the pin caused by vibration is 19.89 kN; the pinion shaft vertical displacement and HSC load response do not fluctuate. There is a great difference between the frequency of meshing force of the pinion and the rack (1.06 Hz) and first-order natural frequency of PBA(8.41 Hz), thus PBA will not resonate. From all above, PBA meets the static strength and fatigue strength requirements. The vibration of PBA internal components has no effect on the vertical displacement of the pinion shaft, HSC load response and smooth operation of PBA. There is a liner relationship in the ratio of 2:1 between the thrust imposed by the test-rack and HSC load, thus HSC can limit the load imposed on the pinion.

Keywords

three gorges project ship lift / pinion bracket-assembly / FEM / fatigue strength / structure optimization / vibration

References

[1] NiuX-q, QinL-m, YuQ-kui. The design of gear-rack climbing type ship lift of three gorges project [J]. Engineering Science, 2011, 13(7): 96-103

[2] ZhuH, DengR-xing. The overall layout design of three gorges project [J]. Yangtze River, 2009, 40(23): 48-50

[3] DengJ, WangW-p, LiuJuan. Computer simulation of the design of three gorges ship lift [J]. Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering, 2007, 38(11): 59-62

[4] JinZ-j, JiangC-hang. Plastic limit load analysis for pressure pipe with incomplete welding defects based on the extended net section collapse criteria [J]. Journal of Zhejiang University: Science A (Applied Physics & Engineering), 2011, 11(6): 440-448

[5] SpoorenbergR C, SnijderH H. Design rules for out-of-plane stability of roller bent steel arches with FEM [J]. Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 2012, 79: 9-21

[6] WangY-liang. Assessment of brittle fracture induced by low temperature of high-speed railway steel bridges [J]. China Rail Way Science, 2012, 33(3): 28-33

[7] Euro code 3, design of steel structures-Part1-9: Fatigue [S]. 2005.

[8] RobertsT M, DoganO. Fatigue of welded stud shear connectors in steel-concrete-steel sandwich beams [J]. J Construct Steel Res, 1998, 45(3): 301-320

[9] ShiD-w, CaiD-cai. Finite element analysis on nut post structure of three gorges project ship lift [J]. Journal of Central South University of Technology, 2009, 16: 614-620

[10] ShiD-w, WuQ-m, ZhangZ-qiang. Structure analysis of locking mechanism of gear-rack typed ship-lift [J]. Wuhan University Journal of Natural Sciences, 2006, 11(3): 631-636

[11] Wuhan Marine Machinery Plant Co., Ltd. Elementary test report of Three Gorges Project ship-lift drive system [R]. Wuhan, China, 2013. (in Chinese)

[12] JeromeM, Solberg, PapadopoulosP. A finite element method for contact/impact [J]. Finite Elements in Analysis and Design, 1998, 30: 297-311

[13] BuC-g, XiaB-r, LianY-j, ZengHui. Simulation of hertz transient contact/impact of flexible bodies [J]. Journal of Earth Science, 2012, 23(2): 225-232

[14] FanQ-man. Modal analysis of a truck transmission based on ANSYS [C]. Fourth International Conference on Information and Computing, 2011358-360

[15] ShanX, GuoH-c, YuL-song. Modal analysis and optimization of some internal rotor radar stabilized platform [J]. Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing, 2011, 104: 517-523