Decision support for hydraulic crane stabilization using combined loading and crane mat strength analysis

Abstract

The construction industry employs high-capacity hydraulic cranes. With the burgeoning increase in modules' weight, the hydraulic crane's ground bearing pressure (GBP) also escalated. The traditional status quo primary technique estimates the GBP by calculating the resulting force at each outrigger. Contrary to that, a novel method is proposed in this manuscript to determine the pragmatic GBP profile directly under hydraulic crane mats. In a computer application, the proposed methodology can determine the GBP profile utilizing a combined loading approach. The application uses a hypothetical case example of a hydraulic crane with various loads, and results are verified using finite element analysis. The application also provides mat suitability/strength analysis based on allowable soil bearing capacity, bending/shear stress, mat deflection, and compression limit to surpass the poor ground condition. The developed application provides a complete decision support package for the practitioners to observe stresses developed in crane mats.