Anti-sway method for reducing vibrations on a tower crane structure

Abstract We develop a solution to the problem of the behavior of a tower crane considered as a deformable system, and therefore subject to vibrations, whereas the controlled movement of a payload is implemented. The motion of the payload is calculated taking into account the normal vibration modes of the tower crane and the swaying of the payload. A “command smoothing” method relative to an open-loop system is used for reducing the sway of the payload, through smoothing the original command by the crane operator. This leads, as a consequence, to a reduction in the vibrations of the crane structure. An iterative calculation of the sway angle and the corresponding applied velocity profiles as input to the crane motors is applied. The tower crane is considered as a high nonlinear underactuated system; it is modeled considering the possible deformation of the structure. The results relating to the normal deformations of the crane are obtained, highlighting how these vibrations are strongly attenuated when an anti-sway system for the payload is implemented. Therefore, it is shown how this control leads to the best results in terms of performance for both the payload movement (shortest possible profile for the rotation movement and damping of the load oscillation) and the structure of the tower crane. Applying the method described in this paper, the structure of the tower crane does not undergo the strong horizontal and vertical oscillations that occur when the elastic structure is not considered in the crane model.