Innovative System for Off-the-Ground Rotation of Long Objects Using Mobile Cranes

Managing heavy-pressure vessel lifts on construction sites requires planning, arranging adequate crane support, and preparing collision-free rotation (from a horizontal position to a vertical position) of the vessel. Generally, selecting mobile cranes and developing engineered lift studies for vessels are done using two cranes and analyzing the lift for each crane individually on the basis of the selected cranes’ lift-capacity specifications provided by crane manufactures. This practice is relatively costly and time-consuming. Optimizing the mobile cranes’ use and location is also difficult. To assist in the field operation of mobile cranes and to provide engineers with a planning tool, this paper presents a methodology to carry out such a lift utilizing only one crane. Using the developed methodology and mechanism, heavy vessels can be rotated off the ground (in the air) with one crane. The proposed mechanism is supported with a mathematical model that has been developed into a computer system and has been integrated with a previously developed crane selection and ground pressure calculation system and crane database. The developed system provides users with a lift study analysis for a given configuration as well as simulation results with interactive graphics to assist in the selection of an optimum configuration. This research is important as projects involving heavy lifts need to reduce the cost and time associated with construction operations.