Swaged Fittings Under Tension and Fatigue Loads

Although swaged terminals have become increasingly important for structural engineering and mechanical handling, no technical standards exist either for production or for structural analysis. Owing to the complex behaviour of the components (terminal and wire rope) analytical calculations are not available to estimate the load capacity of swaged terminals under tension or fatigue loads. Only a few design recommendations are available, which are based on geometric parameters and experimental data. Therefore the load capacity of the swaged terminal was investigated in a PhD thesis at the University of Stuttgart. The task was split into theoretical and experimental sections. Analytical formulas were derived with the Finite Element Method to describe the behaviour of wire rope and sleeve after swaging. For this wire rope termination in combination with open spiral strands, the fatigue properties were investigated in a systematic test program. Owing to non-uniform methods of analysis, available test results cannot be applied directly to other rope constructions and terminations. Current standards defined endurance loads for defined rope types and termination such as cast sockets. For safe dimensioning, it is necessary to specify mechanical closure and fatigue conditions considering stress and amplitude depending on swage parameter and material.