Project Details

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Reinforced Mast Section for Tower Cranes

Company: Potain Tower Cranes & Autodesk

Major(s):
Primary: ME
Secondary: IE
Optional: ESC, MATSE

Non-Disclosure Agreement: NO

Intellectual Property: NO

Potain is a leading manufacturer of tower cranes including hammerhead, luffing, and self-erecting models that are used on construction projects around the world. Potain also provides engineering support for contractors to ensure that their Potain tower cranes are properly erected every time. Autodesk is a global leader in software solutions for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, and entertainment industries. Autodesk’s innovative products and services enable professionals to design, visualize, and simulate their ideas, bringing them to life with greater efficiency and creativity. This project is a joint project, where the students will work on an engineering problem that Potain is currently facing, while using Autodesk software solutions to design, simulate, and predict structural outcomes. If needed, training and Q&A sessions on Autodesk software solutions such as Fusion and Generative Design will be available to this team. Background: A tower crane can only stand so tall before the vertical mast sections can no longer tolerate more bending stresses that are induced by the wind and lifting of loads by the crane. When this limit is reached, the tower crane must be “tied in” to the building or structure that it is constructing. This is accomplished by placing a collar (a reinforced boxed structure) around the vertical mast and then connecting the collar to the building by means of three struts. This connection provides the vertical mast sections of the crane with horizontal support and reduces the bending stress in the mast sections. The mast sections are square lattice structures, comprised of strong cords in the corners and smaller lacings connecting the cords. Because of this design, the mast sections are lightweight and strong against vertical compression forces, but the mast doesn’t have uniform strength against horizontal forces. The strongest points on the mast, with respect to horizontal forces, are at the nodes where the lacings intersect the cords. Since the mast sections have natural strong points at the nodes, a collar can only be placed at those nodes. This can pose an issue for the constructors of the building, because a node on the mast section will not always line up with a floor of the building, which is where the struts are typically connected to the building. This means that they need to build reinforced pedestals on the building floors to come up to the height of the strut, which adds extra cost to the building project. Problem: The students will be tasked with analyzing a current mast section that Potain manufactures to determine the horizontal load carrying capabilities of the mast section. Then, with that information known, the team will be asked to design a reinforced mast section that will be able to withstand a prescribed horizontal load (the maximum load supported by the collar) at any point along the mast section. The team should also consider manufacturability in their design. This new reinforced section will allow the builders to place a collar directly in line with a floor and reduce complexity of using a tower crane. The student team will utilize Autodesk software solutions to design, simulate, and predict structural outcomes.