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The purpose of this work was to verify the correctness of the adopted design solutions of the mobile scaffolding made of aluminum alloys. Laboratory tests included tests of the entire scaffolding structure as well as tests of individual components. The main test was the study of the stiffness of the structure carried out on a complete set with a height of 6 m. The scaffolding was horizontally loaded using a proprietary solution in the form of a block system and water tanks. The structure was loaded in the perpendicular, parallel direction. As the scaffoldings are temporary structures, the task of which is to ensure safety during the work, tests were also carried out on the side protections that protect workers against falling from a height. The guardrails were loaded both vertically and horizontally. The handrail system has asymmetrical joints, therefore the load was applied both downwards and upwards, and to the inside and outside of the working platform. The toe-boards, which are part of the side protection, were also tested. The working platform is the element directly loaded by users of the scaffolding, therefore, as part of the laboratory tests, the platforms were loaded with a uniformly distributed load and a concentrated load. The concentrated load was applied in 5 different locations of the deck on the area of 0.2m x 0.2m and 0.5m x 0.5m, respectively.
In order to create a numerical model representing the behavior of the structure, it is necessary to obtain information on the nature of the connections. In the considered mobile scaffolding system, there are both detachable joints and fixed (welded) joints. The joint tests included 4 types of connections: snap connections, screw connections (clamps), pin connections and welded connections. Each of the above-mentioned tests was carried out to full destruction, which made it possible to identify and indicate the sensitive areas in which the destruction occurred. Since the connection of the pipe and the coupler is obtained by crimping the pipe, the conducted tests allowed for the verification of such a solution.
Comprehensive laboratory tests included 15 different forms of load. Over 100 tests have confirmed the correctness of the adopted design solutions in the analyzed aluminum mobile scaffolding. The destruction of the welded joint took place in the heat affected zone, while in the case of detachable connections, the coupler cracked. The obtained results can be used to create a numerical model of the entire mobile scaffolding structure.
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