Algorithm of Crane Selection for Heavy Lifts

Lifting capacity charts are tabulated and provided to operators and practitioners by mobile crane manufacturers. These charts are structured based on predetermined crane configurations, which consist of boom/jib length, lifting radius, main boom angle to ground, and jib angle to ground or its offset to its main boom centerline. It is a tedious job that lifting planners select cranes for construction projects based on a large number of lifting capacity charts. This paper presents a newly developed algorithm for selecting mobile cranes on construction sites, which takes into account the lifting capacity, the geometrical characteristics of the crane, the dimensions of equipments and riggings, and the ground bearing pressure. The algorithm is incorporated into a three-dimensional (3D) computer-aided system that integrates crane selection module, crane modeling module, 3D-simulation module, 3D computer-aided design modeling module, rigging calculation module, and data management module. At last, a case is represented in order to demonstrate the use of the developed algorithm and to illustrate its essential features.