An Integrated System to Select, Position, and Simulate Mobile Cranes for Complex Industrial Projects

Determining feasible mobile crane configurations and positions on a complex industrial construction projects that are free of spatial conflicts and the subsequent scheduling of the lifts is important to the productivity and safety of a project. This paper focuses on the integration of a crane dimensional and capacity database with a project's lifted object information to select and position the cranes and then utilize expert knowledge to simulate the heavy lift plan. The system uses dimensional and coordinate data instead of CAD software for computation of crane position areas amongst known obstructions and boundary limits. The crane position area is specific to a crane model and identifies where the center of rotation of the crane can be placed without having any part of the crane body contact the known obstructions and boundary limits. This analysis is performed for multiple cranes and lifted object scenarios to develop a list of possible options. Schedule date constraints and logic are used to simulate and optimize the schedule and crane selection. This provides the practitioner with an effective planning tool to select, position and schedule cranes.