Samson’s sling gives wings to wind farm
Rope manufacturer Samson has completed extensive testing on high performance synthetic rope slings, resulting in a greater understanding of the critical elements that affect sling performance in a variety of configurations.
The company’s R&D team has applied this knowledge to the development of a software application to help clients determine the best synthetic sling for their heavy lift operation.
The ratio between the pin diameter (D) and the diameter of the rope (d) can affect the rope strength, depending on the design of the sling type, single leg or grommet. For single leg slings, which have an eye splice at each end, smaller D/d ratios are more efficient.
However, grommet slings perform at higher working loads due to load sharing between the two legs of the sling. The increased strength the grommet sling is dependent on the D/d ratio and the positioning of the splices.
‘We have done considerable testing on the many different factors that go into heavy lift sling design, said Dennis Sherman, technical sales director for Samson’s offshore segment. ‘The outcome is that we are able to really pinpoint the best sling design for the job.’
Because of the numerous technical challenges that need to be considered in heavy lift sling design, Samson engineers have created the Sling Configurator, a software tool that allows input of rigging requirements and then provides the rope sling and configurations that are best suited to that particular lift or job.
Since Samson is keen to enable the translation of its rope into a dependable rigging component, the company is making this Sling Configurator available to its own engineers and is also extending it to the company’s network of fabricating distributors. Samson is also involving some of its more trusted customers in the exercise.
The success of the company’s high performance synthetic slings has been proven with the installation of 140 turbine foundation monopiles for the Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm in the North Sea. The project required configuration of two lifting systems that would raise between 519 and 676 metric tons.
The slings were fabricated from 144mm diameter AmSteel Blue rope, for which Samson assisted with the proof loading and certification under Lloyd’s third party supervision. For the installation, only one of the two lifting slings originally manufactured needed to be used because it proved to have exceptional wear qualities.
‘The Greater Gabbard project was definitive for us in terms of the heavy lift sling business, said Mr Sherman. ‘We take great pride in knowing what our products will do in specific applications and understanding their performance characteristics and failure mechanisms so we can better educate the industry on the proper and safe use of synthetic ropes in different applications.’
