Created in COMSOL Multiphysics 5.

Truck Mounted Crane Analyzer

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About the Truck Mounted Crane Analyzer

Many trucks are equipped with cranes for load handling. Such cranes have a number of
hydraulic cylinders that control the cranes motion, and several mechanisms.
In this application, a rigid-body analysis of a crane is performed in order to find the payload
capacity for the specified orientation and extension of the crane. This application also
provides the usage of hydraulic cylinders and highlights the limiting cylinder. The capacity
of the hydraulic cylinders can be modified in order to improve the payload capacity and
the usage of the cylinders.
You can change the following parameters:
The angle to the horizontal of the inner boom
The angle between the booms
The total extension length
The capacity of the inner boom cylinder
The capacity of the outer boom cylinder
The capacity of the extension cylinders
Figure 1 shows the applications user interface.

Reset
input
Run
study
Read
documentation
Enter
model inputs
Sketch
Evaluate
results
Plot
configuration

Figure 1: The applications user interface.

Set the input parameters in the Orientation and Extension section. These parameters govern
the configuration of the crane and the position of the payload. Details of these parameters
and different crane parts are shown in the Sketch section. A new configuration of the crane
can be plotted in the Configuration section by clicking the Update button in the

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Configuration section in the ribbon. The capacity of the inner boom cylinder, outer boom

cylinder, and extension cylinders can also be modified in the Capacity of Hydraulic Cylinders
section. Finally, click the Compute button in the Simulation section in the ribbon to start
the computation. Input parameters can be reset using the Reset button in the User Input
section.
The results of the simulation i.e., payload capacity, and hydraulic cylinder usage are
displayed in the Results section. The graphics window in the Configuration section shows
the updated position of all the linkages for the specified input parameters. Finally, to
generate the report of the application, click the Create Report button.
The expected computation time for computing the payload capacity of the crane is around
25 seconds on a typical desktop computer. The expected computation time, and the last
computation time or, alternatively, the solution state can be seen in the Information section.
GEOMETRY

Figure 2: Truck mounted crane geometry.

Figure 2 shows the geometry of the truck mounted crane. Various parts of the crane,
which are useful for setting up the input parameters, are given in the table below.
TABLE 1: CRANE PARTS
PARTS

COLOR

Inner boom

Cyan

Outer boom

Green

Inner boom cylinder

Red

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TABLE 1: CRANE PARTS

PARTS

COLOR

Outer boom cylinder

Blue

Extension cylinders

Magenta

ORIENTATION AND EXTENSION

The angle of the inner boom with the horizontal is ; it can vary between -15 and 90.
The angle between the inner boom and the outer boom is ; it can vary between 0 and
165. The total extension is given by l, which can vary from 0 m to 5.5 m. These
parameters can be specified to set the configuration of the crane and the position of the
payload.
HYDRAULIC CYLINDERS

The crane has five hydraulic cylinders. The first cylinder is mounted between the base and
the inner boom. This cylinder is for rotating the inner boom with respect to the base. The
second cylinder is mounted between the inner boom and the outer boom. This cylinder is
for rotating the outer boom with respect to the inner boom. The other three cylinders
serve to change the length of the three extensions.
The capacity of these hydraulic cylinders can be specified. The capacity of the inner boom
cylinder and the outer boom cylinder can vary between 0.1 ton and 1000 ton, whereas,
the capacity of the extension cylinders can vary between 0.1 ton and 100 ton.
CRANE WEIGHT

The weight of the crane is 6.48 ton. This is fixed in this application.
RESULTS

This application computes the maximum payload that can be lifted for the specified crane
configuration and the specified capacities of the hydraulic cylinders. It also gives the
percent usage of each hydraulic cylinder. The limiting hydraulic cylinder, i.e., the cylinder
with 100% usage, for the specified configuration of the crane and the specified capacity of
the hydraulic cylinders is also highlighted.
There is a possibility that for the specified configuration of the crane, the specified
capacities of one or more of the hydraulic cylinders are not sufficient to lift the cranes own
weight. In this case, a warning message is displayed together with the minimum required
capacity of each hydraulic cylinder to lift the cranes own weight. This minimum required
capacity of each cylinder is also highlighted if it exceeds the specified capacity of the
cylinder.

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The Embedded Model

The model is set up using the Multibody Dynamics interface with a Stationary study. Here,
all the links are assumed to be rigid and are modeled using the Rigid Domain feature. The
connections between various links are set up using Hinge Joints, Prismatic Joints, and Slot
Joints.

Note: This application is derived from the Truck Mounted Crane model. Refer to the
documentation of this model for detailed information on the modeling process.

Notes About the Implementation

PAYLOAD CAPACITY COMPUTATION

The maximum payload that can be lifted in the specified crane configuration is limited by
the capacity of one of the hydraulic cylinders. To compute the payload capacity, results are
computed for two cases: with certain assumed payload and without payload. The payload
capacity computed using first hydraulic cylinder is given by:
W pc1 = ( F c F 1 ) ( F 2 F 1 ) W p
where
Wpc1 is the payload capacity
Fc is the cylinder capacity
F1 is the load on the cylinder in the first case
F2 is the load on the cylinder in the second case
Wp is the assumed payload
Similarly, the payload capacity is computed using loads on each hydraulic cylinder. The
minimum of all of them is the payload capacity of the crane:
W pc = min ( W pc1, W pc2, W pc3 )
The percent usage of each cylinder is computed using the final payload capacity:
UF = ( F 1 + W pc W p ( F 2 F 1 ) ) F c 100
Here UF is the percent usage.

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If the cylinder load, F1, exceeds the specified cylinder capacity, Fc, for any of the cylinders,
the payload capacity is not computed. Instead, the minimum required capacities of the
hydraulic cylinders to lift the cranes own weight, F1, are displayed.

Application Library path: Multibody_Dynamics_Module/Demo_Applications/

truck_mounted_crane_analyzer

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