Preliminary analysis of tower crane as a type of truss structure

Abstract

Truss structures are part not only technical practice but also our everyday life. It is very important to be designed safely. One of the tools that help a designer to avoid errors and to make the rightdecisions about a structure material, beam profile, shape of rod construction, etc. is virtual analysis. The article deals with the preliminary study of tower crane, which can be considered as the truss structure. Various types of structures are described in the introduction. The main part of the article is devoted to static analysis of the crane. The physical 3D model was prepared in reduced scale according to standards of European model trains NEM (Normen Europäischer Modellbahnen). Axial forces, stresses in beams, as well as the maximum possible load have been specified by analytical method. The strain analysis of crane has shown that the primary design of the structure was not acceptable and the construction would not be able to lift up required weight. Results were verified by virtual simulation insoftware Robot Structural Analysis. Therefore, the truss was reinforced by additional bars and newly remodelled tower crane has been tested to specify the maximum load of external weight.