LAUSR

Abstract Tribo-fatigue behaviors of steel wire rope under bending fatigue with the variable tension were presented in this study. A self-made bending fatigue test apparatus of steel wire rope under the variable tension was introduced. Fracture and wear mechanisms of steel wires in the rope were investigated employing the VW-9000E high speed camera. The total wear depth of both contacting wires was calculated in cases of distinct rope segments and different pulley diameters. The finite element method was employed to analyze three-dimensional contact behaviors between the rope and friction pulley in order to validate test results. The results show that the number of broken wires in the rope decreases in the order: the outer layer in the core strand, outer layer in the outer strand, inner layer in the core strand and center wire in the core strand. The tribo-fatigue damage between core and outer strands is larger than that between outer strand and friction pulley. Severe wear in the rope is located at the outer layer wire in the outer strand contacting the friction pulley, at contacting wires between neighboring outer strands, and at contacting wires between core and outer strands. The outer layer wire of core strand contacting with the outer strand presents several consecutive wear scars. The total wear depth of steel wire decreases with increasing pulley diameter and presents the fluctuating change with increasing bending fatigue cycles, which is the same case at various contact regions. Contact and damage locations in finite element analyses coincide well with the test results.