Examination of Modeling Methods for Tower Crane Transportation using Multibody Dynamics

When a tower crane is carried by a transporter in shipyard, the height and length of the tower crane should be adjusted to meet the safety guidelines. Since the guidelines came from the field experience, the safety limitation needs to be analyzed by a computer simulation. In this paper, modeling methods are addressed to implement the appropriate transportation simulation of a tower crane. For the relation between the tower crane and the transporter, normal contact force, friction force, and kinematic constraints are compared. Assignment of relevant linear acceleration and angular velocity is considered for the transporter to start or move on an inclined ground surface. By using the examined modeling methods, the dynamic motion of tower crane transportation is analyzed by a dynamic simulation program, and comparison between the simulation result and analytic solution is made to verify the feasibility of the modeling methods.