Dynamic Response of Anchored Tower Cranes under Sinusoidal

Damped Seismic Action. Case Study

Mircea ALMOREANU
Department of Construction Machinery and Mechatronics, Technical University of Civil
Engineering of Bucharest, 124 Blvd. Lacul Tei Bucharest, ROMANIA, alamor@utcb.ro

Andrei VASILESCU
Department of Structural Mechanics, Technical University of Civil Engineering of
Bucharest, 124 Blvd. Lacul Tei Bucharest, ROMANIA, andrei.vasilescu@utcb.ro

Abstract: - The subject of the behavior of tower cranes under seismic motion, it is particularly one. On
September 2009, in the XXXIII National Conference on Mechanics of Solids - Romania, the authors
presented the hypothesis of analysis, the dynamic model and the general system of differential equations
of motion, considering the tower with and without anchors to the building. The research was continued
with the study of the response of the tower cranes without anchors, loaded by the payload, under
sinusoidal seismic actions. The results were presented at the 10th International Conference on Acoustics
and Vibration on 2011. However, this paper continues these studies, considering the seismic motion in a
more accurate approach. The comparative results are presented in a case study, for the MTO-180 tower
crane.

Keywords: tower cranes, dynamical analysis, differential equations of motion, canonic form, MTO 180

1. PROBLEM FORMULATION movement and also, of the payload pendulous

The concerns regarding the behavior of tower cranes
under seismic actions are of recent date. The
domains of lifting machines are covered by national
norms and standards which include the design,
production, operation, surveillance, repairing and
maintain aspects of theses. However, the effects of
earthquake loading are not mentioned at all. We
point out that a draft standard prepared by the
Technical Committee ISO/TC96 is ongoing of
assimilation. It is about of the norm Cranes - Design
principles for seismic load ISO/DIS 11031.
The project of the norm, however, deals only the
case of the tower cranes placed on the ground,
without any anchors at the building. Therefore the
seismic action transmitted indirectly by the building
through the anchorage is not covered by this norm.
The authors have presented a suitable dynamic
model system: crane - anchors - construction
loading in two previous papers [1] and [2]. Firstly,
the paper [1] presented the general system of
differential equations of motion, initial conditions,
and the possible particular cases. On the other hand,
the paper [2] has established the general solution for
undamped sinusoidal seismic action in the case of
the tower cranes without anchors. It was presented a
case study of the tower crane with the graphics
outputs: the diagrams of elongation, speed and
acceleration on the three degrees of freedom as
results of the flexional movement, the torsional
RJAV vol XI issue 1/2014
movement.
In the study the movement was considered two
phases: the first stage during the seismic action and
the second stage after termination of this seismic
action. Two steps forward have been made in this
paper: the first step considering the seismic action as
damped sinusoidal movements of the crane base
support, and the second step considering indirect
seismic action, as noted above. This approach has
two advantages: the seismic motion is modeled more
accurately by taking into account the damping and it
is not necessary to divide the study into two stages.
2. HYPOTHESES AND THE DYNAMIC
MODEL OF THE CRANE; NOTATIONS
We will consider the following hypotheses in the
present approach:
1) The tower crane has the behavior of an elastic
beam with fix end;
2) The tower crane is connected to the building with
n rigid anchors that are considered simple supports
for torsion loading;
3) The total mass of the crane tower is concentrated
by equivalence to the jib hinge;
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4) The rotational inertia of the rotating part of the
crane is considered the moment of inertia of masses
calculated by the rotation axes (the same with the
tower axes), and the rotating substructure (jib and
counter jib) is considered stiff in the plane of
rotation;
5) The seismic action is applied directly on the base
of the crane, and is applied indirectly by the building
and anchors;
6) Under the seismic motion, the crane has small
elastic bending and torsion undamped oscillations,
and the load has a pendulum motion;
7) We will neglect the effect of the crane over the
building.
Figure 1. Dynamic model of the tower crane; absolute and relative displacements
RJAV vol XI issue 1/2014
The last hypothesis is one of practical use to have a
simplified theoretical approach, because the mass
and the stiffness of the building are greater rather
than of the cranes. Figure 1 presents the dynamic
model considering the above hypotheses.
The generalized displacements for the three
degrees of freedom are:
xm - absolute displacement of the equivalent
crane mass, M,
- torsion rotation of the tower crane,
xq - absolute displacement of the payload.
The relative displacements can be seen in
Figure 1.
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3. MODELLING THE SEISMIC ACTION 4. MODELLING INDIRECT ACTION

The allure of the records of the earthquake in We consider the tower crane anchored by rigid
Bucharest on 4 March 1977, recorded by National trusses to the building. The model of the building
Building Research Institute - INCERC Bucharest is a simple one, an undamped elastic one mass
[3-4], admits a representation expressed in dynamic system. The elongation of the
displacements that can be described by displacement to the level of the equivalent mass it
u (t ) U 0 e t sin t (1) follows from the solution of equation:
vc c vc u
where the period Ts 2 1,971s .
with u(t ) from the Equation (1).
The graphical representation of Equation 1 is vc (t ) U 0 [ Aco sin c t Bco cos c t
shown in Figure 2, where represents the critical (2)
damping ratio which has the approximately value

e t Acp sin t Bcp cos t ]
0,11 of the N-S direction records. where the integration constants are
2
It is clear that the record does not allow direct
measurement of U0 , but we can establish the



1 2 1 2 c2 4 2

Acp
peak amplitudes, for example the maximum 2
2
amplitude at the time t Ts 4 . 1 2 c2 4 2

Using (1), it follows easily
c2
U 0 1,1886U 1, 2U 2
Bcp 2
2
2
2 1 2 c2 4 2

1.189


1 Aco
c

1 Acp Bcp
u( t) Bco Bcp
U( t) 0
S ( t)
The elongation at an anchorage level vic may
be expressed by means of the elongation at the
1
equivalent mass level vc , according to the
following expression
1.189

2
0 5 10 15 vic ic vc (3)
0 t 15 cc
Figure 2. Damped sinusoidal seismic action according using the notation established for the coefficients
to Equation (1) of influence.

The correspondence between the maximum The effect of the crane on a number of n
values taken from the records and the results by anchors is deduced in the following: at the level of
applying the function (1) is shown in Table 1. the i anchorage, the displacement of the tower
crane is the same as that of the building and we
Table 1. Extreme values recorded and calculated note Rk the effort transmitted by the anchorage k
vi Rk ik vic , i 1...n , k 1...n (4)
Extreme values Time Extreme
k
recorded Ts 1,971s values
considering (1) Equation (4) represents a system of algebraic
equations with unknowns the efforts in
u =20,1cm Ts 4 20,1cm anchorages. The solution of the system is
u =-75,1cm / s Ts 2 53,91cm s
Rk k (5)
u=-201,8cm / s 2 Ts 4 201,8 cm s 2

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 a) b) c)
Figure 4. a) Equivalent dynamic model of the building; b) and c) Elongations and displacements under the action of
unit loads over the building, respectively over the tower crane

where det ik , and k is the determinant 5. THE DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS OF

which follows from replacing column k with MOTION, INITIAL CONDITIONS
the elongations vic :
The canonical system of differential equations of
11... v1c ... 1n motion, including how it was obtained, was
21... v2c ... 2 n presented in [1]. This system is as follows:
k
... ...
... ... vm vq yq q2 vq u

n1... vnc... nn v 2 v k v y
Using (4) the form of the determinant k can be m m m q q G

expressed by the elongation vc and influence u m2
Rk mk (7)
k
coefficients: y
11... 1c ... 1n yG vm kq q vq 2 yG u
iy2
i 2y i 2y
... 2c ... 2 n vc (t ) v (t )
k 21 k c .(6) 1 g 1
.... .... ... .... cc cc m2 , q2 , 2
n1 nc ... nn M mm h 2
M i y m1
In this way the efforts transmitted from the In these equations we noted:
building through anchorages are expressed only kq M Q where M is the equivalent mass of the
known values. tower crane, and Q is the mass of the load and of
the tackle,
yG rG cos ,
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 rG - the radius of the mass center of the slewing The system (11) is approached under the
portion of the crane, including the payload; the general methodology, so the general solution is
angle indicates the orientation of the crane jib given by:
(Fig. 1),
vm (t ) vmo (t ) vmp (t )
i y i cos , where i is the radius of inertia of the
slewing portion, including the load, Vm1 sin(1t 1 ) Vm2 sin(2t 2 )

m1 represents the rotation of the tower crane at e t (Gmp sin t H mp cos t )
the level of the point of mass reduction, rotation
+( km ) 2 (Cmp sin c t Dmp cos c t ) (13)
produced by a torque unit.
The right side of the second equation represents (t ) o (t ) p (t )
the influence of the anchors. By virtue of those
12Vm1 sin(1t 1 ) 22Vm2 sin(2t 2 )
derived in the previous paragraph, it follows:
e t (G p sin t H p cos t )
v (t )
m2 Rk mk m2 c k mk
( km ) 2 (C p sin c t D p cos c t )
k cc k (8)

(km )2 vc (t ) In these equations: the constants C, D, G and

where H were determined from the condition that the
k mk particular solution to check the system equations
k k with the right hand side, and the constants Vmi are
cc obtained by requiring that the general solution to
(9) satisfy the initial conditions; 1 and 2 are the
The initial conditions for the system (4) as circular eigenfrequencies of the dynamical system
follows: resulting of the equation (14); the distribution
vm (0) 0 vm (0) u (0) coefficients 2i have the expressions (15):

vq (0) 0 and vq (0) 0 2

(0) 0

(0) 0
1

yG
4 m
2 i
iy
2

2 i2 m
2 2

0 (14)
(10)
Further, the system (7) is approached under 2 m2 y i2
the general methodology. 1i 1 , 2i i G (15)
yG i2 i y2 i2 2
6. CASE STUDY MATHCAD Professional software was used for
numerical calculation and graphics, taking into
The object of the case study will be the tower account [8]. The input data are the following.
crane MTO 180, as in [2]. To make things easier,
it will be considered the crane out of service Seismic motion data:
(without payload) with only one anchorage. In U 0 1 m , Ts 1,971 s , 0,11
this case, the system (7) loses one equation and
taking into account (8) it will become: Data relating the building:
1,571 4 1
vm m
2
vm yG u ( km ) 2 vc (t )
Lc 81 m , Tc s , c s
0,785 8
yG y (11) The values of the fundamental period Tc are
vm 2 G u
2 2
iy iy corresponding to the steel structure building,
where respectively to the concrete structure building, and
they were determined as the average values
1c m1 obtained by applying formulas recommended by
k
cc 11 various researchers [1].
(12)
The initial conditions for the system (11) are Data relating the tower crane:
Equations (10), but not those relating to the vq
It was considered MTO-180 tower crane
and vq . having a maximum height in the work
configuration with a single anchorage (Fig. 4).
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For this configuration: established by Rayleighs energy method for
L 93,535m yG 2,079m continuous systems.
, ,
l 46,325m i y 18,591m We obtained the circular eigenfrequencies
6 2
J R 17,10428 10 kgm
We set the equivalent mass Me of the crane, 1
m 1,1056 s 1
by considering the masses of the composing M e e
elements
M e M R M t ,ech 49.489 1
1,1917 s 1
61.695,5 111.184,5kg J R

M t ,ech kt ,e M t M tic 1, 293 44.225

The value of influence factor of the building in
4512,5 61.695,5kg , which the crane is anchored is determined by the
where: expression
M R , M t ,ech , M tic represent: the mass of the 1
k 3Lc l 3L l
rotating part of the crane, the equivalent mass of 2 Lc
the tower, respectively the mass ratio of the
This influence factor is obtained from (12) by
intermediate part of the tower. This mass is
introducing the appropriate expression of the
concentrated at the point of the mass reduction.
influence coefficients (Fig. 3). It follows
kt ,e is the coefficient of equivalence applied
k 1,325
to the tower mass, actually distributed along its The circular eigenfrequencies are:
length.
1 1,0762s 1 and 2 1, 2319s 1
with the corresponding periods:
T1 5,838 s , respectively T2 5,100 s .

The oscillations of the building (considered

without damping), if we consider a metallic
structure are shown in Figure 5.

2
1.114

vc( t ) 0

1.08
2
0 5 10 15
0 t 15

Figure 4. MTO-180 tower crane configuration for
analysis
Note: Since we are interested in the
fundamental eigenfrequency of the crane, and the
tower mass is distributed along his length, the
equivalent mass of the tower Mt ,ech was
Figure 5. Oscillations of the building
Figures 6 and 7 shows the bending
oscillations of the tower crane anchored,
respectively the torsion oscillations due to
damped seismic action.

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 0.5 2
1.697
0.421

0 1

u( t )
vm( t )
vm( t )

0.5 0

0.874
1 0.964
0 10 20 1
0 10 20
0 t 25 0 t 25

Figure 6. Bending oscillations of the tower crane at the jib Figure 8. Bending oscillations of the freestanding tower
hinge level crane

Figure 7. Torsional oscillations of the tower crane
The corresponding oscillations of
freestanding tower crane are shown in Figures 8 and
9 for comparative analysis.
It is noted that the values correspond to the initial
amplitude of seismic motion U 0 1m.
In the case of the earthquake struck on 4 March
1977, as stated in paragraph 3, U 0 1,1886
u 1,1886 0,201 0,23891m , so that the values
taken from the graphs to be multiplied by
approximately 0.24.
Figure 9. Torsional oscillations of the freestanding tower
crane
problem and will provide a satisfactory description
the
for the needs of engineering calculations.
2. The mathematical modelling of seismic
motion by the function (1) allows the direct
integration of the system of differential equations of
motion, leading us to analytic expressions of the
laws of motion.
3. From Figure 5 it follows that the maximum
flexion elongations of the crane correspond to the
first mode of oscillation, and that they are in
opposition to the seismic motion.

7. CONCLUSIONS 4. A refined model of the construction-crane can

1. In the present approach, it is proposed the
dynamic model of the crane with three degrees of
freedom, and an equivalent model of the building
with one degree of the freedom. This simplifies the
RJAV vol XI issue 1/2014
be obtained by taking into account the elastic
deformation of the boom, in the horizontal plane. In
this case, the dynamical system will have an extra
degree of freedom. Another possibility to refine the
dynamical model is to consider the internal damping
of the crane.
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 5. After attenuation of the seismic motion, the
crane executed forced oscillations transmitted from
the building.
6. Accordingly with data in the particular case
studied, from the graphical representation shown in
the Figure 7, it is found that in the case of the
torsional oscillations in the tower crane, it has
occurred the phenomenon of beats with a period of
about 40 seconds, and with a maximum elongation
occurred after a half-cycle of the beating.
REFERENCES
[1] Almoreanu, M., Vasilescu, A., Behavior of tower cranes
under seismic actions, University Politehnica of Bucharest,
RJAV vol XI issue 1/2014
Scientific Bulletin, Series D, Vol.72, Issue 2, 2010,
Politehnica Press, pp. 55 - 64.
[2] Almoreanu, M., Vasilescu, A., Dynamic response of tower
cranes under seismic actions. Case study, Romanian Journal
of Acoustics and Vibration, Vol. VIII, Issue 2, 2011,
pp. 85-90.
[3] Ifrim, M., Dinamica structurilor i inginerie seismic, Ed.
Didactic i Pedagogic, Bucureti, 1984.
[4] Blan, t., Cristescu, V., Cornea, I., Cutremurul de pmnt
din Romnia de la 4 martie 1977, Editura Academiei R.S.R.,
Bucureti, 1982.
[5] Hartog Den J.P., Mechanical Vibrations, McGraw-Hill Book
Company, Inc., 1947.
[6] Eden J. F., Iny A., Butler A. J., Cranes in storm winds,
Engineering Structures, Vol.3, Issue 3, July 1981, pag. 175-
180.
[7] Buzdugan Gh., Fetcu L., Rade M. Vibraiile sistemelor
mecanice, Ed. Academiei, Bucureti, 1975.
[8] Steinhaus Stefan, Comparison of mathematical programs for
data analysis, Munich / Germany, 2008.
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