Construction Lift Design

SCHOOL OF TECHNICAL SCIENCES

IE326:ELEMENTS OF MACHINE DESIGN
SEMESTER PROJECT
SUPERVISED BY [Link] ABU SHAMS

Amro Areed 20161103047

Jad Farajallah 20162103001
Faisal Hijjawi 20162103008
 1

Table of Contents
[Link]: .................................................................................................................................................... 2
[Link]: .............................................................................................................................................. 2
[Link] & Background: ................................................................................................................. 2
[Link]: .................................................................................................................................................. 2
[Link]: ....................................................................................................................................... 2
3. Maximum Specifications: ......................................................................................................................... 3
4. Tower Crane Design: ................................................................................................................................ 3
4.1. Counterweight Position to Lift at C: ................................................................................................... 4
4.2. Load Diagrams: .................................................................................................................................. 6
4.3. Material Selection: ............................................................................................................................. 7
[Link] Rope Selection: ................................................................................................................................. 7
6. Motor Design: ........................................................................................................................................... 7
6.1. Calculating Required Motor Power: ................................................................................................... 7
6.2. Motor Selection: ................................................................................................................................. 8
7. Software implementation: ....................................................................................................................... 9
8. Conclusion & Recommendation: .............................................................................................................. 9
[Link]:................................................................................................................................................. 10
.................................................................................................................................................................... 10
10. References: ........................................................................................................................................... 12

CONSTRUCTION LIFT DESIGN SECOND SEMESTER 2019/2020

 2

[Link]:
This research paper presents a design concept for a flat-top tower crane with sliding counterweight,
starting off with giving a general overview of the design, as well as a few calculations that show the
importance of balance in tower cranes while also showing a load chart which guides the operators of the
crane on the masses that the crane is able to lift, then the previously calculated load chart will be used
to select a suitable material, after that a suitable wire rope and motor will be selected, also a motor
selection process is presented with a lift speed diagram that details the different lifting speeds for
different masses.

[Link]:
[Link] & Background:
The general definition of a construction crane or lift is a mechanical system that is designed to be
capable of raising and lowering heavy objects, as well as move them horizontally which is what
differentiates them from hoists which are able to lift objects but unable to move them sideways.

For structures that do not require very high strength, a common form of steel known as carbon steel is
used which includes less than 2% of materials other than iron and carbon. However, for structures that
require great strength, such as the cranes that have the purpose of lifting excessively heavy objects, a
category of substances known as high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steels are used, which contains low
levels of carbon, and a small amount of one or more elements that are used to add extra strength such
as (chromium, nickel, titanium, etc.).

[Link]:
The Two main types of cranes are either mobile cranes such as the truck mounted crane, rough terrain
crane, crawler crane, and floating crane, or fixed stationary cranes such as the ring crane, telescopic
crane, hammerhead crane, and tower cranes.

This report will be focused on the design of a tower crane, specifically the flat top tower crane.

[Link]:
Tower cranes are used in many different applications to lift building materials, examples of applications
for tower cranes include:

1. Construction of dams
2. Construction of bridges
3. Multistory residential
4. Multistory commercial buildings, towers
5. Different industrial Sectors
6. Power Plants

CONSTRUCTION LIFT DESIGN SECOND SEMESTER 2019/2020

 3

3. Maximum Specifications:
Flat top tower cranes are manufactured by many companies and with many different standards.
However, for the average Flat top tower crane the details of design and maximum specifications are as
the following:

Specification Value/Max Value

Type Tower

Length of the jib 70 m

Length of counter 25-30 m

jib
Mass lifted 40 ton

Height 80 m

Rotational angle 3600

Fig 1.1: Design and details of a Flat top Tower Crane Table 1.0: Maximum Specifications of an average tower crane

In general, tower cranes can lift up to 40 tons. However, the further the lifting occurs from the Mast the
lesser the mass that can be lifted safely, because of that a load chart will be provided to put into detail
the mass that could be lifted safely at a given distance from the mast.

4. Tower Crane Design:

The following figure shows the details of the crane we want to design, the 18-ton counterweight cannot
be changed. However, it is positioned on a track and it could be moved to any point along AB, the trolley
carrying the hook used to carry the variable mass can be at any point along BC starting from a minimum
distance of 10 meters, but for now we are going to assume that it’s positioned at point C, also the mast
height DB is 80 meters.

CONSTRUCTION LIFT DESIGN SECOND SEMESTER 2019/2020

 4

Figure 1.2: Tower Crane forces general design

4.1. Counterweight Position to Lift at C:

For the first task, we want to see how far the counterweight must be placed from point B to achieve an
equilibrium in the moment when lifting as a start 4500 kgs at point C, to do that we must calculate the
overall moment at B to see when equilibrium is achieved between both sides, given values are:

Counterweight is 18 tons, positioned at distance X from B, the mass that the crane will lift is 4500 kgs,
positioned at Point C, length of the Jib BC is 70 meters and it weighs 1500 kgs, its center of mass G1 is 35
meters from point B, length of the Counter Jib AB is 25 meters and it weighs 500 kgs, its center of mass
G2 is 12.5 meters from point B, the objective is to find the distance X for the Counterweight in which
equilibrium is achieved, the following figure shows the Free body diagram for member ABC:

L1= counterweight acting force and it acts

downwards
LG2= weight force of the counter jib
LG1= weight force of the jib
L2= weight force of carried mass
LA= reaction force from the mast

-Taking the moment at B:

CONSTRUCTION LIFT DESIGN SECOND SEMESTER 2019/2020

 5

𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐶𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒 = 𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐴𝑛𝑡𝑖 − 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒

(18000 ∗ 9.81 ∗ 𝑋) + (500 ∗ 9.81 ∗ 12.5) = (1500 ∗ 9.81 ∗ 35) + (4500 ∗ 9.81 ∗ 70)

3543862.5 = 176580𝑋
𝑋 = 20.069𝑚 ≈20 m
- From this example we can see that to be able to lift a mass of 4500 kg while preserving equilibrium,
the counterweight should be position at exactly 20.069 meters from B, the following graph shows the
maximum masses that could be carried at point C with different counterweight distances from B:

Mass vs Counterweight distance

7000
6000
5000
Mass at C

4000
3000
2000
1000
0
4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25
Counterweight Distance From B

-Shear and Moment Diagrams:

100000 SHEAR DIAGRAM

58860 44145

0
SHEAR FORCE

0 20 40 60 80 100

-100000

-200000 -176580
-181485
DISTANCE FROM POINT A

MOMENT DIAGRAM
3000000 2060100
1545075
2000000
MOMENT

1000000 0
0
-1000000 5 12.5 25 60 95
-2000000
-1324350 -2268562.5
-3000000
DISTANCE FROM POINT A

CONSTRUCTION LIFT DESIGN SECOND SEMESTER 2019/2020

 6

4.2. Load Diagrams:

Load diagrams are a vital part of any crane, since they show maximum loads that can be carried at
different Jib distances, all crane manufacturers provide their customers with load charts, which acts as a
guide for construction workers for safe lifting.

For our crane design a load chart will be plotted using excel software, in a way which guarantees
equilibrium at the mast at all times for each lifting radius starting from the minimum lifting radius,
moment will be calculated at both sides to get the maximum load, also since we want to find the
maximum possible load the counterweight will be positioned at the farthest point.

𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐶𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒 = 𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐴𝑛𝑡𝑖 − 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒

(18000 ∗ 9.81 ∗ 25) + (500 ∗ 9.81 ∗ 12.5) = (1500 ∗ 9.81 ∗ 35) + (𝑀𝑎𝑠𝑠 ∗ 9.81 ∗ 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒)
(18000 ∗ 9.81 ∗ 25) + (500 ∗ 9.81 ∗ 12.5) − (1500 ∗ 9.81 ∗ 35)
= 𝑀𝑎𝑠𝑠
𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 ∗ 9.81
By implementing the above equation on excel and setting the distance to start from the minimum hook
distance which is assumed to be 10 meters in our design and with a step of 4 meters we get the
following chart:

50000 Load Chart

40000
MASS (kg)

30000
20000
10000
0
0 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68
Distance From Mast (Meters)

This chart is very beneficial in terms of shaping operations at the construction site, for example Let us
assume that the crane needed to pick up a Load with a mass of 20 tons from a supply point at 10
meters radius and deliver it at a demand point at a 30 meter radius by plotting that on the graph it
would look like this:

We can notice how at almost 21 meters an overload will occur in which the crane will not be stable,
because of that we cannot lift 20 tons from 10-meter radius to 30-meter radius.

CONSTRUCTION LIFT DESIGN SECOND SEMESTER 2019/2020

 7

4.3. Material Selection:

To Select a suitable material, we need to calculate based on the highest load possible which is 40 tons,
when the counterweight is the farthest from the mast and there’s a 40 ton load 10 meters into the jib
this is the resulting shear diagram:

600000 SHEAR DIAGRAM

400000 407115
SHEAR FORCE

200000
14715
0
0 20 40 60 80
-200000
-181485
-176580
-400000
DISTANCE FROM POINT A
Since max shear force was equal to 407115 N, and assuming a square shape cross section with height
and width equal to 3 meters, also the factor of safety for lifting equipment is 9:

𝜎 = 𝐹/𝐴
𝜎 = 407115/(32 )= 45.235 MPa
𝑅𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑇𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ = 45.235 ∗ 9= 407.115 MPa

By using the required tensile strength and using table 3-1 attached in the appendix we concluded that
Steel SAE 1020 Annealed is the most suitable material to choose for our design.

[Link] Rope Selection:

The next step is to select a suitable wire rope for our application by using table 4-1 attached in the
appendix, since Maximum working load = Minimum breaking force/SF, we will be using a design factor
of 5 and our previously calculated maximum working load is 40375 kgs = 44.505819 US tons
Minimum breaking force = 44.505819 ∗ 5= 222.529 tons

By looking at table 4-1, we can see that we need a diameter of 2.25 in or 58 mm and IWRC extra
improved steel for the wire rope, and by observing figure 4-1 in the appendix we decided to choose
6x36 (Warrington Seale) since it counters the fatigue caused by the bending over the drum.

6. Motor Design:
6.1. Calculating Required Motor Power:
To select the motor, we are going to assume that we need to lift the middle mass that our design is
capable of lifting which is 20 tons by the speed of 1m/s, by implementing the power equation and
assuming 100% efficiency.

CONSTRUCTION LIFT DESIGN SECOND SEMESTER 2019/2020

 8

𝑀
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒(𝑁) ∗ 𝑉𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 ( )
𝑠
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = 20000 ∗ 9.81 ∗ 1=196200 W

𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑅𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑡 20 𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 1𝑚/𝑠 = 196.2 𝑘𝑊 𝑜𝑟 263.1 ℎ𝑝
Now that we know our required power, we start the motor selection process, the manufacturer that we
choose for our motor is Bharat Bijlee.

6.2. Motor Selection:

By using our required power, we must pick the motor. However, certain calculations must occur
beforehand such as the variation in ambient temperature which goes into consideration when
calculating the motor derating factor & the altitude, since the higher the altitude the lesser the output
power, we will use the motor catalogue provided by the manufacturer for the factors:

Since Bharat Bijlee has a standard of 45 C ambient temperature for their motors, we will assume that in
our specific operating environment the ambient temperature will be 50 C.

𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟/0.96

𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = 196200/0.96 = 204375 W

And for the altitude above sea level we will assume that it is 2000 m

𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = 204375/0.94= 217420 W or 217.42 kW

For the next step we will make use of table 5-1 attached in the appendix to choose a motor from the
manufacturer Bharat Bijlee, in our application we will assume 300 starts/hour, we will also assume a
Cyclic duration factor of 40%, by using our new required power of 217.42 Kw and referring to the table
we find that the most suitable motor is the motor MC35L413 with a frame size of 355L which has a
power of 220 Kw.

Now with an actual power of 198.528 Kw we will be able to graph the lift speed for different masses, by
implementing the formula into excel we get the following graph:

50000 LIFT SPEED DIAGRAM

40000
MASS (kg)

30000

20000

10000

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
LIFT SPEED (m/s)

CONSTRUCTION LIFT DESIGN SECOND SEMESTER 2019/2020

 9

7. Software implementation:
To get a better picture for the designed crane, by using solidworks software we created a prototype for
our designed crane by utilizing the structure and weldment commands, starting off from sketching a
cube and inserting the trusses and then using the structure and weldment commands to establish a
structure, we also assigned the selected material to the structure and created a prototype for the 355L
motor that was previously selected, moreover, to insert the 18 ton counterweight, we selected the
material cast iron with density 7200 kg/𝑚3 and assigned a the dimensions 5x2x0.25 to get the mass 18
tons, the following image shows our rendered assembly:

8. Conclusion & Recommendation:

In this research paper we detailed the importance of calculations in crane design, such as plotting a load
chart and selecting a suitable material while also referring to the factor of safety for lifting equipment,
we also selected a wire rope and a motor that are more than capable of lifting the maximum load, all of
these calculations are to ensure maximum safety and prevent failures from crane tipping over or failure
due to shear forces structure wise, to component related failures such as motor and wire ropes failures,
and finally we used solidworks software in order to better analyze our selected dimensions and
specifications.

CONSTRUCTION LIFT DESIGN SECOND SEMESTER 2019/2020

 10

[Link]:

Figure 4-1: Properties of different wire ropes

Table 4-2: Technical Data for wire ropes Table 4-3: Grades of wire ropes

Table 5-1: Bharat Bijlee’s various motors and their specifications

CONSTRUCTION LIFT DESIGN SECOND SEMESTER 2019/2020

 11

Table 3-1:Design Properties of Carbon and Alloy Steels

CONSTRUCTION LIFT DESIGN SECOND SEMESTER 2019/2020

 12

10. References:
[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]
balance-it

[Link]

[Link]
[Link]

[Link]
crane-rope/

[Link]

[Link]

[Link]

CONSTRUCTION LIFT DESIGN SECOND SEMESTER 2019/2020