I think a few new lattice parts and she'll be lifting again...
A brand new Liebehr, at their yard in Germany, undergoing pre-delivery tests. First reports are that a cable broke. I would not want to have made that cable.
Whatever makes it boom up hasn't stopped and has pulled the mast over the top. Notice the hook block on the side nearest the camera.
Just guessing, I think the floating barge beside the ship is a test weight. See all the picking eyes up and down it. They fill and empty with water to get a capacity lift. If they were making a lift, and whatever was holding it to the test weight cut loose, then the mast could easily fold over backwards when it cut loose from the barge. I'll say this, it looks expensive. I bet there's some engineers and lawyers circling and eyeing one another- as well as looking over the signed contracts for delivery.
A few seconds of video before the YouTube clip started would probably be most revealing.....
Yes, will be interesting to see when those videos are released... I'm sure there are a few videos of this test somewhere. Seems very similar to other barge crane failures I have seen with the rolling contributing to failure... except for the going over backwards part.
I wish we have the whole thing from beginning to end. It just look weird and unnatural for it to break in that direction away from the camera but not really seeing a huge load being on that side.
It was lifting from the barge on the left side then something broke and it flipped over backwards.
The test weight barge is rocking a little but not much. It seems it would be making more waves than that if it busted loose with a heavy lift on it.
Hard to know how much time elapsed before the op's video was started.
There is more information available. It appears a small part failure caused a large CF. I think this was an early attempt by Leibherr to break into the marine market. I don't think they have a very good handle on the ocean engineering yet. https://vertikal.net/en/news/story/35316/5000-tonne-crane-collapses-during-test?acceptCookies=1
Yeah, the hook block failed, you can see it in the original video too as it gets pulled up with the drop of the boom. And yes it was made in china along with most of the other assemblies.
5000ton hook? wow i didn't realize that til now. wonder how much the hook block weight by itself! what's the model of this crane again? edit: found it: Liebherr HLC 295000 https://www.liebherr.com/en/usa/pro...cranes/heavy-lift-crane/heavy-lift-crane.html
Wow, look at that. It puled the hook off the block. Now I'm no structural engineer but I like to think I would have suggested proof loading the block on its own before hanging a load off it.
Yep... It's the little things in life that quite often leave the biggest scars.
made in china, saving a couple of dollars always costs more money
Def looks like that's what happened. I think i saw a post somewhere that this is supposed to be a lifting test of 5,000t. That ballast barge next to it is supposed to be the test load. And this is exactly what would happen if a load that heavy is suddenly taken off. The boom just snaps backward. i think there's gonna be a real focus on how that hook block failed.The hook could've have been made properly but maybe the load was not strung correctly? or maybe one of the load was suspended unevenly? who knows. sad to see such a big crane nearly completely destroyed.
Somebody messed up. Aren't hooks and any other lifting devices supposed to have a 4 to 1 safety factor? Why wasn't the hook tested prior to putting on the crane? Multi-million dollar mess. I'd bet there could be some big lawsuits against who ever built the hook. Thank god nobody was killed and it was a test lift and not on an actual job.
More post mortem pics: https://www.oilandgas360.com/breaki...ork-at-giant-scottish-wind-project-collapses/ Pre mortem pic: https://vertikal.net/en/news/story/35158/5000t-crane-nears-completion#&gid=1&pid=1 Looks like the ship might have bumped against the quay although it doesn't look too beat up. I would bet the crane is declared a total loss even if that pedestal looks relatively intact. Looks like another field day at an insurance company....
Probably not chinese. Liebherr is german and builds almost everything in house. They source a few things out of house, but its stuff like starters from bosch, transmissions from ZF, that sort of things. They own their own engine company, and steel cast their own counterweights. I don't know if they build their own hook blocks, but I would be surprised if they didn't, because of how much of their own stuff they make. Everything I've been around with liebherr is top notch stuff. You're exactly right dave, its supposed to have a safety factor. Some items are 3 to 1, some stuff is 5 to 1. My guess is a engineering error on the safety factor of the hook block, and it sure looks like a complete failure of the attachment between hook and block. All the load hooks I've been around use a threaded head holding in the swivel bearing. I don't know where there would be a test bed to test the hook to 15,000 tons, that's some pull.
If they wouldn't have scrapped Big Muskie or the Captain they'd have 15,000 tons to test it. Do they make hydraulic test beds that could measure in PSI and convert to weight?
Two rigging suppliers I know both have test beds. One is 50 ton, the other I think is 100 tons. One uses a tensionmeter, I think the other one reads a pressure transducer on the hydraulic pressure circuit.
I doubt they'd scrap the whole thing, other than the booms, jibs and back supports It didn't look like there was enough of a hit to hurt the upper and lower slewing parts??? guess we'll have to wait til' the engineers and surveyors get into it. Hard to say just how much stuff was made offshore... since it was a chinese vessel partnership I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have some of the parts started there??? But I do agree the German Liebherr stuff is top notch. Also I thought I read somewhere this was only a 110 percent load test...
Here is an outfit with a pretty stout test bed. https://www.irizarforge.com/News/8-hook-blocks-for-a-10-000-ton-floating-crane.aspx Under Proof Load Test they say they have a 6,000 ton test bench.
3.3 million lbs test bed. Bishop products in houston. https://canada.constructconnect.com...pe-test-beds-get-bigger-and-stronger-1013523w
I might be out in left field on this but every crane I dealt with on an insurance job had a shock load factor that scrapped out most of them. Usually a mechanical engineer would do some kind of inspection and then some figuring and would not sign off on the machine being sound for any rated weight. It might be different for marine application because the boat has some give but my guess most of that pedestal and all the rigging is scrap metal. Maybe the Liebherr people self insure. Is that a spindle on that hook block where the hook should be. It kind of looks like the end of an axle spindle. It will be an expensive accident investigation.
It's not too hard to conceive of a test rig. Something along the lines of anchoring the hook to the floor and using hydraulic jacks to lift the block.
I am not a crane operator, but still am glad I was not in that cab when the block shoot past then landed on the roof..sort of.
Wow, I hadn't noticed where the cab was. I bet one of the injuries was the operators head hitting the ceiling as he was lifted on a jet of fecal matter.
Liebherr issued a statement. Hook Block failed. It was not built by liebherr, sourced from a outside supplier. They were making a full test pick of the test barge in the foreground. https://vertikal.net/en/news/story/35340/liebherr-responds-to-marine-crane-incident
Wow, just really hard to believe the block wasn't tested on it's own from the mfg.... unless it was and during install something was not assembled right???
Failed at 2600 tons, not even close to rated capacity let alone a safety factor. I wonder if this supplier is going to be on the "hook" for the 80-100 million in damages? Somebody really screwed up.
Made in China? Asking for a friend.
The chinese sub a lot out to India for bulk castings anymore... so might not technically be from China...
Most Indian products make the Chinee look first class.
I did some looking in to that RollOver Pete. I think a company in Holland called "rope block" makes their smaller hook blocks. At least the ones in their brochures look just like the liebherr ones I've been around. But I have no idea if they made the one for this crane. https://ropeblock.com/static/default/files/documents/downloads/Ropeblock Lifting & Rigging_Imperial.pdf
I saw somewhere else that the hook was made in Holland, so perhaps it's the same company. There's a video floating around on Facebook of the lift from a different angle, starting from before the failure. It looks as though it was the boat listing over that caused the boom to go over the back, as opposed to the shock unloading.
The listing is from the ballast pumped into the hold to counterweight the lift.
"Ropeblock" has issued their own statement- "The Dutch company says it provided the design of the crane’s lifting blocks and crane hook but outsourced manufacturing to “a certified supplier who is familiar with parts of similar and larger sizes”. Ropeblock adds that prior to manufacturing the design has been verified by the authorized body." Taken from this article: https://www.energypeople.com/news/s...n-accident-as-company-issues-initial-findings So in other words- their lawyer hasn't read the paperwork enough to know if they can stick the "authorized" supplier with it yet. I find it interesting that they didn't name the supplier.
Authorized Supplier...LOL that's a good one even sounds official I just picked up a battery, brake fluid and some anti-freeze from an authorized supplier a few minutes ago.... still have to find a brake cable from a different authorized supplier... and after that I need to get on the computer and order some other odds and ends from even yet a different authorized supplier.
I'm not authorized to disclose the name of the company, but I can tell you some of the personnel involved. Chief Engineer Sum Ting Wong, Technician Wi Tu Lo, Operator Ho Lee Fuk and PR guy Bang Ding Ow
Let the blame game begin....lol... Liebherr was quick to make statement trying to wash their hand. So did Ropeblock. I am sure ropeblock supplier will also issue a negative statement and and will just blame it on the workers that casted the hook? lol..
I think the hook attachment is the issue.
That would be right. I have worked on the docks as a lowly hook hookeruperer, and the ships always used their onboard cranes. They would list over quite a lot lifting 24 tonnes out in one go. On one job they had to get someone in the second crane and when the ship was slewing to over land, the other crane had to slew over water to stop the listing, otherwise the safety would just cut the crane power out. So with the boom near vertical on a heavy load the ship would list, the hook snaps and the ship lists back and folds the boom over backwards.
This shows the hook releasing from the barge. https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=sFQag_1589143516
I wish they would have included more of the boom at the top of video and less of the water at the bottom...lol
That more or less sums it all up.
I bet in all the stability calculations for the ship no-one ever considered a load of that magnitude being instantaneously released in the way it was. Once the load came off everyone involved was simply along for the ride. Gravity, Isaac Netwon's famous invention was completely in charge.............
They are very good land crane people. But they stepped out of their comfort zone and got a lesson. Brings to mind the old line "You can always tell a German, but you can't tell him much".
A German? I've always heard that saying in referencing a Texan.....specifically a Texan ironworker!
Regardless the superficial or visible damage, would serious doubt any structural integrity of the components above the pedestal mounts. That is going to take some splainin' and be a write off by most parties involved.
I’d be interested to know how much load was on the hook when it failed. I’m assuming that the load should have come clear out of the water during the test lift.
Would be interesting to know how much on the crane hook with 2600 tons on the counterweight.
I don't know anything about the ocean or ships or their cranes, but it looks like when the hook parted, very little damage was done at first. It seems to me that the ship began to list over toward the dock, I am imagining because they had a lot of ballast over on that side to counterbalance the lift. And once the crane went over vertical is when everything started to come unglued. Can someone confirm, if the ship had not listed so far, would it have all pretty much stayed together?
Hard to say what's going to happen when 2600+ tons suddenly lets go. Scary for sure.
From the reports I have read. The plan was a 5,000 ton lift. The hook failed at around 2,500 tons. I'm sure the "barge" they are lifting does not come out of the water, its probably not that structurally sound. The water on the outside, helps hold the walls holding the water on the inside, as long as its in the water. They simply watch the tensionometer or pressure transducer readings to know when they are at capacity or the weight they want to test at. There's really not counterweights per se on a crane like this. They simply flood water compartments on the one side of the ship as they are lifting on the other side. It has to be a really slow process on a max lift, filling compartments as you add weight with the crane.
As far as the flip over, Kinetic Energy release and the effects of Force related Counterforce apply, those cables regardless how new were stretched, like rubber bands, the sudden parting allowed stored energy to release off lift cables as well boom support cables and being at a nearly vertical boom angle the energy had to go somewhere. The booms unhindered flipped up and then contacted the head block, lattice booms will transfer point of pivot to where ever they contact and then start a chain structure collapse. Really bad day for the guy in the seat, do not know if I could return to that chair to try this again.
And there lies the root cause of why it went over. There would’ve been no way to pump 2500 tons of water out of the ballast compartments to compensate for the loss of the load in a couple of seconds. Therefore the ship was always going to roll big style away from the load (that fella Newton again). With the test lift being performed at a fairly small radius it wouldn’t take much in the way of roll for the boom to go past the vertical position. Anyone have any insight as to why this heavy lift ship was designed to lift over the side as opposed to most of the ones I’ve seen that were more like a pair of sheer legs over the bow or stern.? That setup is much more stable.
But that isn't what I thought I saw in the video that shows the moment it parted. The block and cables and boom seemed to stay pretty much in their places at first, it was when the ship tilted back so the boom was beyond vertical that everything went sideways, literally. Here is a Youtube link of the above video.
I think the idea is that the wind turbine motor, blades, and tower, are on the ship deck. They sail to where they are in the ocean, then swing and pick everything off the deck to build the wind turbine. The ones with stiff legs that dead lift over the front don't swing or have turntables, they have to move the boat to do everything.
I'd say that video is slowed down quite a bit, look how slow the boom is moving as it is falling over on the back side, it would come a lot faster in real time. If you look close, the boom is moving upwards and toward vertical faster than what the ship is rolling. Its just a whole lotta iron moving at speed.
As per my post #59 above. The only way to prevent the ship rolling to port when 2500 tons was suddenly let go from the hook was to pump the water ballast out in a heartbeat and that was never likely to happen. The unbalanced force caused between the X tons of ballast on the port side of the ship vs no load on the hook on the starboard side is what caused the ship to roll to port and everything else happened as a consequence IMO. in addition to that possibly the speed of roll to port plus the "spring" effect of releasing the load when the hook failed may have accelerated the boom point to such an extent that it continued to raise even when the ship stopped rolling to port. When the ship rolled back to starboard again the boom point went over the vertical with respect to the boom foot pins and that was all she wrote. If you pause the video at 0:12 the boom is already pretty much vertical with respect to the water surface and the ship is still rolling to port.
Yup I agree with Nige . Buy I sure would have liked to seen more of the boom just to see how it reacted . The blocks didn't really bounce far . a calculation knowing rope size, how many parts and what they were pulling would determine estimated stretch . But if I knew how to do that....I would probably have a lifting licence. Where is Sheldon when you need him? Cheers
Showing off? Meaning, demoing their superior engineering, Figured they could make it work and gain some practical advantage in the ship crane business? The entire concept is out of my and most here work experiences for sure, sure is a interesting way to do a lift though.