Identification and experimental validation of a scalable elevator vertical dynamic model

Abstract A reliable model of an elevator’s vertical motion is of tremendous value in many aspects of elevator design, installation and service. The challenges in developing and validating a dynamic model for an elevator arise from the large size of the dynamic system involved, its position-dependent or time-varying nature and from the limited number of variables available for measurement. In this paper, a physics-based dynamic model of an elevator’s vertical motion, scalable to varying rises, is first derived. Then, extensive experimental data is obtained from two elevator systems with rises over 100 and 250 m. The corresponding parameters of the two elevator systems are identified via modal analysis and a numerical mode-matching procedure so that the model-predicted transfer functions may best match the experimentally estimated ones. The scalability of the model is subsequently examined to extend the validity of the model to untested elevator systems. Finally, the experimentally validated model is successfully used in predicting the performance indices of high-rise elevators.