Load tests on cableways: Maximum safety, even at higher speeds
Automatic coupling systems enable modern cableways and chairlifts to run at ever faster speeds. However, this also involves higher dynamic loads acting on cabins or chairs.
Higher speeds, increased capacity: New types of cableways – for example modern chairlifts with automatic coupling – offer many economic benefits. However, what about safety? After all, faster speeds also involve increasing dynamic loads acting on carrier units such as chair or cabin.
Critical situations can arise, in particular, when carrier units enter or leave the stations or pass the supporting pylons. To ensure absolute safety, experimental stress tests using strain gages directly installed on the carrier units are the ideal solution. These tests not only help to verify theoretical calculations but also prove useful when fine-tuning the cableway during its construction.
The tests using strain gages therefore help planners of cableways find the best solutions for the connections and joints of carrier units. Design engineers and mechanics get important information on how to use the optimum settings for station and cableway structures. Eventually, passengers benefit from increased safety and comfort.
An example from Italy shows how valuable cableway tests using strain gages can be: A team from the Technical Laboratory for Ropeways of the Autonomous Province of Trento, Italy, conducted comprehensive load tests using strain gages on a cableway with automatic coupling.
The tests conducted by the Italian cableway experts involved several phases:
- Preliminary statistical tests with empty and loaded carrier units
- Further tests with eccentric loads on the chairs or on one half of the cabin
- Dynamic tests during complete runs, passing of supporting pylons, entering and leaving of the stations
