A Method of Dynamic Modeling of a Large Floating Crane and its External Excitations

Abstract

According to the characteristics of floating cranes, an affordable numerical method to model the floating cranes and the external excitations such as wind, wave and shimmy loads was proposed. Local coordinates modifying wind, wave and shimmy loads which are determined separately were combined in the global coordinate system according to the geometric positions. The spectra of wind loads and wave loads were converted into time domain separately according to the linear method, while a shimmy load is determined according to the Lagrange’s Equation. As an example, the external excitation caused by random wind, wave and shimmy loads on a 7500-ton giant floating crane were simulated, and the transient dynamic response was predicted and discussed. Focusing on the characteristics of structure of floating cranes, the research indicates that the dominant frequency of the wave load is low, as compared to wind and shimmy loads, and that the shimmy load is closely related to the environmental excitations such as wind and wave loads. The results also suggest that the transient response of the crane is mainly related to the shimmy load.