Mechanism and Experimental Investigation of Vibration Reduction for Container Cranes Based on Particle Damping Technology

Abstract

Container cranes have been widely used for port operation. However, the structure of the port container crane is large, which always leads to crane damage under vibration and strong wind. Therefore, a method for vibration reduction of container crane structure based on particle damping technology is proposed. In this investigation, the scale 1:80 crane model is built, and the equivalent mechanical model is also established to preliminarily verify the effect of vibration suppression. Furthermore, the dependence of vibration suppression effect on the key parameters of the damper, i.e., filling material, filling rate, particle size, and installation position of dampers are analyzed through experiments. The results indicate that the vibration peak of the crane structure displayed in the Simulink oscilloscope is weakened and lags behind, the installation of the damper brings the effect of vibration suppression for the crane, and the vibration suppression effect reaches 25%; the crane mode obtains the best vibration suppression effect under the condition that the material filled in the damper has a large density and elastic modulus, sufficient collision space and high collision frequency, and the dampers are installed far away from the crane center of gravity. The optimum parameters of the damper obtained from experiments were 12 mm lead beads, a filling rate of 60%, installed in the distal ends within the strength range of the forearm of the crane. It is thus concluded that particle damping technology has provided an effective way of wind and vibration reduction for container cranes.