Uplift phenomenon of container cranes occurred during the past earthquakes. Therefore, the evaluation of the potential uplift of the container cranes is an important task when the demand for trade is increasing. The objective of this study is to investigate the probability of the uplift occurrence of the container crane subjected to a wide range of earthquake intensity. The uplift results are then fitted to the log-normal cumulative distribution function (CDF).

The dynamic behaviour of container crane under seismic loading is a complex issue, especially for assessing uplift. The pin support is commonly used to model the contact between crane’s legs and the ground/rails in low seismicity area. However, the behaviour of the structure is quite different under high seismic intensity because the crane’s wheels are not fixed to the rails in operation. In this study, therefore, a 3-D finite element (FE) model was simulated with gap elements to consider the uplift behavior. In addition, the vertical reaction of the crane’s legs were investigated as well.

In this study, an experimental study of Impulse Thermography was carried out on a concrete specimen with in-placed artificial defects at different depths and dimensions. Then, all the data were processed by Pulse Phase Thermography technique by performing Fast Fourier Transformation. The results were compared with the absolute contrast method.