Design optimisation of gantry crane under certain loading conditions

This thesis has been focused on the subject of cranes. Crane is a kind of machinery which is used for lifting and transporting heavy materials in horizontal or vertical direction. In the first part of that, there is a review of the history of the cranes and different ancients, such as ancient Egypt, ancient Greeks, and ancient Romans, who have used of this machinery and had an important rule on the improvement and evolution of that, have been described. In the second chapter of this thesis has been tried to introduce the mechanism of cranes, then different kind of cranes have generally been classified, and this classification can be based on various factors such as components, structure, and power drive. Also, different kind of cranes have been introduced and some common types of them such as Tower cranes, Mobile cranes, Monorail cranes, Jib cranes overhead cranes and ... have been discussed in details and components of them with their structure have been explained. Furthermore, classification of different standards institute for service of cranes based on their lifting and hoisting equipment has been explained. This classification is necessary for choosing a suitable crane for a required application. It does not only guarantee the investment on the crane but also prepares safety operation with maximum lifetime and minimum cost. Some of the standards that have been explained their service classification in this thesis are crane manufacturing association of America (CMAA), The European materials handling (FEM), American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME), International organization for Standardization (ISO),... The third chapter of this thesis is focused on particular kind of crane, which is Gantry crane and safety rules about this type. The mechanism, structure, and component of this type also are explained in details. Different type of gantry cranes is described. Based on the cantilever of the crane there are three types of Non-Cantilever, single cantilever, and double cantilever. Bridge and girder of the gantry also can be divided into two types of box girder and truss girder, or it can be divided into two types of the single girder and double girder based on the number of the girder. Also, advantages and disadvantages and different usage of gantry crane especially in the industry have been probed. Then by using standards references such as ASME, FEM, and ISO, safety rules for different parts of this crane such as electrical equipment, mechanical parts, hoisting equipment and operation of them, have been discussed. Furthermore different types of inspection and testing for the cranes such as initial inspection, functional inspection, frequent inspection, periodic inspection, and inspection of irregular use cranes is explained entirely. In addition, Construction of the ropes that are using on cranes and inspection of the ropes is checked in details. In the last part of this chapter, principle load and load combination which are parameters that a manufacturer or a designer needs for designing the structure of a crane according to the required application that crane purchaser needs, is explained for gantry crane. The last chapter of this thesis is related to the numerical experiments and analyzing a simple structure of a gantry crane under specific loading condition, by using finite element methods for three different elements of Solid, Shell, and wire in Abaqus software. The process of this designing and analyzing in the Abaqus has been explained step by step and the model specifications such as fix modules, boundary conditions, and mesh elements has been defined. As the result of this analyzing, the stress, the strain, and the deflection or displacement of the crane under certain loading condition have been showed and achieved. In conclusion, this thesis contains much useful general information about different type of cranes machinery. It also is a good reference for learning the safety rules and standards for cranes especially gantry cranes. Calculating the principle load and load combination for dynamic factors of a gantry crane, which are required parameters for designing a crane, also has been explained. Finally, a simple gantry crane has been analyzed under certain loading condition, and different results of that have been achieved.