Original Article

The numerical simulation study of traction elevator steel belt model

¹ China Jiliang University, College of Energy Environment and Safety Engineering, Hangzhou 310018, PR China
² Wenzhou Special Equipment Inspection and Science Research Institute, Wengzhou 325001, PR China
³ Zhejiang Academy of Special Equipment Science, Hangzhou 310051, PR China

^* e-mail: CaiZhang@wzsei.com

Received: 22 February 2025
Accepted: 30 July 2025

Abstract

Due to the advantages of high comfort, low power consumption, and energy conservation and environmental protection, traction belt elevators are being increasingly utilized in various scenarios, and the performance of the steel belt under extreme conditions is crucial role in ensuring its safe operation. In this study, the traction steel belt (breaking strength is 43 kN) is taken as the research object, obtained material parameters of steel belt through the fracture tensile testing, which is used as the basis for setting numerical simulation parameters. Subsequently, a detailed simulation model of the steel wire rope is developed, and the stress distribution was obtained by the simulation experiment. A comparison between the numerical simulation results and the actual tensile test results revealed a relative error of 0.84%, confirming the accuracy of the traction steel belt model built in this paper. Using the validated model, the failure mechanisms of the traction steel belt under typical fault conditions were investigated. The simulation results indicated that abrasion faults have a relatively minor impact on the traction steel belt. However, severe wear and wire breakage faults caused uneven stress distribution within the internal steel wire rope, significantly reducing its reliability.