Structure Weight Reduction of Ship Unloader Based on the Orthogonal Experiment Method

Abstract

As a bulk cargo handling equipment, ship unloader plays a very important role in port bulk material handling. As the international bulk cargo ship is becoming increasingly larger, the ship unloader is becoming larger as well. This paper builds the finite element model of the ship unloader, proposes a structure optimization method based on the orthogonal experimental method and a parametric modeling method, and develops software based on the two methods introduced above. The research includes the following: a new method to ship unloader’s structure optimization based on the orthogonal experimental method; the finite element model and the parametric modeling method of the ship unloader; and the parametric modeling and structure optimization software of the ship unloader. The software provides two functions: One is the parametric modeling function, and people can realize the ship unloader’s modeling by input parameters on the interface. The other is the structure optimization function, which can realize the weight reduction target of ship unloader by the structure optimization method based on the orthogonal experimental method.