Mechanical dynamic load of the LHC arc cryo-magnets during the installation

About 1700 LHC main superconducting dipoles and quadrupoles will have to be transported and handled between the assembly, the magnet measurements and the storage that precedes the final installation in the LHC tunnel. To ensure the required mechanic and geometric integrity of the cryo-magnets, transport specifications and allowed acceleration loads were defined after detailed dynamic analysis. A large number of cryo-magnets are now arriving at CERN on a regular basis. The logistics for the handling and transport are monitored with tri-axial acceleration monitoring devices that are installed on each cryo-magnet. Measurements are made to commission new equipment like overhead cranes, tunnel transport and handling devices to guarantee that the defined acceleration limits are respected. The results from the acceleration monitoring that are stored in the same quality assurance system as the cryo-magnets allowed to give a first idea of the level of the mechanical dynamic load on each magnet throughout the logistics chain and were used to detect details such as out-of-specification accelerations that needed improvement.