Contents

Section 3Breaking Strain and Safe Working Load

Introduction

Strength of rope and chain

SWLChain

Breaking srain

Reduction in strength

What size rope?

Nautical knowledge - Breaking Strain and Safe Working Load

DEC, 2002

Nautical knowledge - Breaking Strain and Safe Working Load

DEC, 2002

Section 3Breaking Strain and Safe

Working Load

Introduction
As mentioned earlier, one of the safety precautions to be observed when
using ropes is NOT to exceed its Safe Working Load (SWL). SWL is like a
safety rating given to any piece of rope. It is the maximum load that a rope
in good condition can be subjected to without fear of breaking.

Strength of rope and chain

Stress denotes the load put on material, and strain is the molecular
disturbance made evident by a change of shape or a fracture of the material
due to the stress that has been applied. The term Breaking Strain (BS) or
Ultimate Strength is the load or weight applied to material when testing to
destruction.
Every item used in rigging has a BS from which a SWL may be found by
dividing the BS by a factor of safety for the function of the gear.
It is common practice to allow a Factor of Safety of six in general marine
work for both fibre and wire rope. Wire slings can have a Factor of Safety
of five in some cases and allow a Factor of Safety of five for chain.
SWL = BS/Factor of Safety
For example if a rope has a BS of 600 kg what will its SWL be? The answer
is:
600/6 = 100 kg.
The relative order of strength of fibre ropes is Coir, Sisal, Manila, Hemp,
Polythene, Polypropylene, Terylene and Nylon.
The approximate SWL of a fibre rope can be found from the formula:
SWL (kgs) = F D2
Where:
Nautical knowledge - Breaking Strain and Safe Working Load
DEC, 2002

D is diameter of rope in mm

F is a factor of safety

and the SWL is in kilograms.

The following table gives the factor and the resulting formula for fibre
ropes.
Material

Factor

Approximate S.W.L.

Natural Fibre

D2

Polyamide (nylon) < 50 mm

3D2

Polyamide (nylon) > 50 mm

2.5

2.5D2

Polyester (Terylene)

2.5

2.5D2

Polypropylene

1.8

1.8D2

Polyethylene (Mono)

1.8

1.8D2

Polyethylene (Staple)

1.2

1.2D2

Wire

8.0

8D2

SWLChain
There are two grading systems for chain. The first uses three grades with the
breaking strength (BS) formulas given below.
Grade 1Mild Steel
Grade 2Special Quality Steel
Grade 3Extra Special Quality Steel.
Stud Link

Size

BS (Breaking Strength)

Grade 1: Mild Steel

12.5 mm to 120 mm

{20D2}over 600

Grade 2: Special Quality Steel

12.5 mm to 120 mm

{30D2}over 600

Grade 3: Extra Special Quality Steel

12.5 mm to 120 mm

{43D2}over 600

Where:

D is the diameter of the material expressed in mm

BS is tonnes.

It is common practice to allow a Factor of Safety of five for chain so the

SWL = BS/5 with the answer in tonnes.

Nautical knowledge - Breaking Strain and Safe Working Load

DEC, 2002

Example
25 mm Grade 2 chain
BS (tonnes) = (30D2 )/600
= (30 25 25)/600
= 31.25 tonnes
SWL = BS/5
SWL = 31.25/5
SWL = 6.25 tonnes
With the ISO standards, chain is graded by number. As a comparison,
Grade 3 (as opposed to Grade 1 above) is mild steel with Grades 4 to
9 being tensile steel.
2

For ISO graded chain the SWL = 3D Grade (kg)

Where:

D is the diameter of the material expressed in mm

G is the ISO Grade

SWL is Kilograms.

Example
10 mm ISO Grade 3 chain
SWL (kg) = 3D2 Grade
= 3 102 3
= 3 10 10 3
= 900 kg
When calculating the SWL of chains, beware of two different identification
systems. If in doubt, assume the chain is the lowest grade, ie mild steel.

Nautical knowledge - Breaking Strain and Safe Working Load

DEC, 2002

Breaking strain
The following formulae give an approximate breaking strain for new rope
and distinguish between the varying fibre strength by multiplying the basic
formula by a factor corresponding to the relative strength of that fibre:

Factor 2manila, sisal and hemp- natural fibres

Factor 3polythene and polypropylene- synthetic

Factor 4polyester

Factor 5nylon.

The basic formula is:

BS = FD/300
Where:

D is the diameter of the material expressed in mm

F is the factor

SWL is in tonnes.

Using this formula in conjunction with the factors listed above, the various
breaking strains are therefore:

Natural fibres: 2D/300

Polythene and polypropylene: 3D/300

Polyester: 4D/300

Nylon: 5D/300.

Remembering that the answer is in tonnes.

The safe working loads of all ropes is one sixth of the breaking strain.

Example
What is the SWL of a 14mm nylon rope?
BS = 5D/300 = (5 14 14)/300 = 3.27 tonnes
SWL = BS/6
SWL = 3.27/6
SWL = 0.54 tonnes
Note: To calculate the SWL of a rope it is best to use the formulae for SWL
rather than working BS and then back to SWL.

Nautical knowledge - Breaking Strain and Safe Working Load

DEC, 2002

Reduction in strength
Knots and splices in natural fibre ropes cause a reduction in strength and
SWL. If there is:

a hard eye-splice the reduction is approximately 10%

a soft eye-splice the reduction is approximately 20%

fishermans bend, round turn or timber hitch the reduction is 30%

bowline, sheetbend, clove hitch the reduction is 40%.

In FSWR splices and fittings will affect the SWL by 10 to 30 per cent,
depending on the type of fitting used with the type of wire. These should
be looked at when the choices have been combined, using tables from the
fitting or wire supplier.

What size rope?

In the examples above you have been shown how to calculate the SWL of
a rope, but how do you calculate the size of rope necessary to perform a
particular job?
If we had to perform a task where a load of 750 kg would be imposed on the
rope, what diameter of polyester line would be required? This means that the
SWL of the line would need to exceed750kg. The formula for SWL of a
polyester line is:
SWL = FD2
SWL = 2.5D2
750 = 2.5D2 or 750/2.5 =D2 or 300 =D2 or 17.3 =D
OR

D=

load in kg strength factor

D = 17.3 mm
Therefore, you need a polyester line that is at least 17.3 mm in Diameter.

Nautical knowledge - Breaking Strain and Safe Working Load

DEC, 2002

Check your progress

Why do we need to know the SWL of any rope?

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As a rule of thumb, what are the strength factors used for some synthetic fibres that
you know?
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What is the relationship between SWL and BS?

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What is the BS of 22 mm nylon?

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Nautical knowledge - Breaking Strain and Safe Working Load

DEC, 2002

What is the BS of 14 mm SWR?

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What is the SWL of a sisal rope whose diameter is 16 mm? Could you use that rope to
lift a load of 250 kg?
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You need to lift a load of 450 kg using a nylon rope. What is the minimum size of rope
you would use for the operation?
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Check your answers with those given at the end of this learning resource.

Nautical knowledge - Breaking Strain and Safe Working Load

DEC, 2002