Modelling the structural dynamics of a tower crane

摘要

The use of a crane simulator can make the training of crane operators safer, more flexible and cheaper. For the simulation a crane model is required which is computable in real time in order to give the user an immediate and realistic feedback. Since tower cranes are usually built as large lightweight steel constructions their structural dynamics should be taken into account for a realistic emulation of their motion behaviour. In this paper, a tower crane is modelled as a multibody system which describes the fundamental dynamic behaviour of the crane structure using only few degrees of freedom. Thereby the system order is kept low enough to allow for a computation in real time. Simulation results are compared with measurements of a real crane.