International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Studies

E-ISSN2249 8974

Research Article

MODELING AND FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF CRANE

BOOM
Bhupender Singh1 , Bhaskar Nagar2, B.S. Kadam3, Anuj kumar4

1,2

Address for Correspondence

Department of Mechanical Engineering, YMCAUST, Faridabad-121006

3,4
Department of Mechanical Engineering, AITM Palwal-121102

ABSTRACT
In todays world of growing competition, all industries are trying their best to give the components of high quality with
minimum expenditure. So in present work the solid modeling and finite element analysis of crane boom has been done using
PRO/E WILDFIRE 2.0 and ALTAIR HYPER MESH with OPTISTRUCT 8.0 SOLVER Software to get the variation of
stress and displacement in the various parts of the crane boom and possible actions are taken to avoid the high stress level
and displacement. There are lot of applications of crane in industries and our daily life also. As it is a material handling
machine, it is used for lifting loads and moves it from one place to another. In case of telescopic crane the whole weight/load
is carried by its boom. Now a days, these types of cranes are commonly used due to less manufacturing cost, less space
required and load can be lifted up to a maximum height very easily.

INTRODUCTION
It is desirable for every material handling
manufacturing industry to provide the economy as
in fuel consumption as well as maximum life of
various parts of the equipment. So it is high
necessary to predict the loading capacity for which
the crane boom life is maximum. So in present work
this has been successfully done and also path is
provided for analyzing other crane parts in similar
manner. Crane boom has been analyzed for different
load application at three different points and the
loading capacity for which the value of stress is
acceptable has been predicted. the objective of the
present work may include modeling of crane parts
and other mechanical components with the help of
PRO/E software and analyzing the parts using
ALTAIR HYPER MESH software. Beside the work
also includes:
1. Testing whether boom is safe for the
various loading conditions or not.
2. Exploring ways to reduce the stress level in
various parts of the boom.
3. Finding out various techniques of modeling
such objects and finding out most
appropriate method for modeling them.
4. Declaring the safest load carrying capacity
for the maximum boom life and minimum
stress level and displacement in lifting
condition.
5. To provide the path for analyzing the other
crane parts in similar manner to get
maximum life and also saving the huge
money required for prototype or physical
model generation and testing.
Material of the crane boom
The crane boom is manufactured by mild steel
material having Indian standard 2062 with grade A.
Mild steel is an alloy of iron and carbon with carbon
contents from 0.15% to 0.45%. The carbon occurs in
form of iron carbide, because of its ability to
increase the hardness and strength of steel. Other
elements like silicon, sulphur, phosphorus and
manganese are also present to greater or less amount
to impart certain desired properties to it.
IJAERS/Vol. I/ Issue I/October-December, 2011/51-52

Table 1.1 Mechanical Properties of MS-IS2062 A

Grade
The Mechanical Properties of Mild Steel-IS 2062 A
Grade are as follows:Ultimate tensile strength (min.)
Yield Strength (min.)
Percentage Elongation min.5.65 sqrt(so)
Bend Test
Mass Density
Poissons Ratio

410 Mpa
230-250 Mpa
23
25 mm
7.85 kg/m3
0.29

There are so many softwares now a day available in

industries for standard modeling. CATIA, UG, IDeas, Solidworks and Pro/E. Out of these Pro/E
generates the best models in case of solids, i.e. the
reason we use this for modeling of crane boom part.
The figure 2.8 shows a set of modeling commands
and how they are engaged with one another.
Earlier views of Crane boom

Figure 1.1 Left front view of crane boom

Figure 1.2 Right front view of crane boom

Figure 1.1& 1.2 shows the three dimensional view
of crane boom used earlier in the crane by the
industry. The boom position is left front view in the
figure 1.1 and right front view in the figure 1.2.

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Studies

The thickness of the boom was 28 mm at that time
and is made of MS-IS-1092 material. The boom was
fixed at two points in the crane assembly. Figure
1.3, 1.4, 1.5 & 1.6shows the three-dimensional view
of crane boom prepared after certain modifications
or we can say modified views of crane boom in
different position. The thickness of the boom is now
reduced to 25 mm at all position and is made of MSIS-2062 material. The boom is fixed at three points
in the crane assembly.

Fig. 1.3 Modified Left front view of crane boom

Fig. 1.4 Modified right front view of crane

boom

Figure 1.5 & 1.6 Modified right front view of

crane boom at different position
FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF CRANE
BOOM
1. Finite element analysis is a mathematical
method that can be used to solve various
problems such as stress analysis, heat
conduction, electrical fields, magnetic
fields, ideal fluid flow, etc.
2. In structural analysis, FEA can be use to
solve for the displacement and stress for a
IJAERS/Vol. I/ Issue I/October-December, 2011/51-52

E-ISSN2249 8974

complicated structure, under a given

loading and boundary condition.
SOLLUTION PROCEEDURE
After the solid model generation using Pro-E wild
fire 2.0 software the solid model is imported to
analysis 8.1 software for finite element analysis
purpose. In this the stress distributions over the
boom have been studied under the applied load. In
the present section the brief description of the
method used for this work ALTAIR Hyper Mesh
was developed in head quarter in Canonsburg, USA.
The present work falls under the static structural
field. ALTAIR HYPERMESH follows following
path for performing the analysis:
Preliminary Decisions, Preprocessors,
Solution, Post processor
Preliminary decisions: At this level first the
mode of the software is selected that is best
suited for the component. We can also say
an oral report is prepared according to
component shape, size and material etc.
then final data is entered in further steps.
Preprocessor: In this stage we provide the input
data to the system. This is highly important stage in
analysis:
Modeling of the Crane Boom, Mesh generation of
the Crane Boom, Modeling of loads
Modeling of Crane Boom: The Crane Boom is a
three dimension structure. The element type used is
SOLID tetrahedral. The element is defined by 4
nodes having three degree of freedom at each node
translation in the nodal x, y, and z directions.
Command:
preprocessor>>
element
type>
add/edit/delete
Mesh generation of the Crane Boom: During this
step mesh of regular shape is generated on the
surface of the component. More the irregularity of
mesh shape more the chances of error occurrence.
Material properties: As far as material of the Crane
Boom is concerned the material is MS-Grade IS2062.
Modeling of loads: For analyzing here the analysis
is done for three different conditions: Load carrying
capacity. In this level the software interprets the data
and finds actual results. These results are in form of
displacement at which point is minimum and at
which point is maximum and send the information
regarding the failure of the component.
Post processor: This level of software sends results
to the display menu and the methods to avoid the
failure to increase the life of the component. This
plays an important role in the modification of design
of the component.
Finite Element Model in Altair Hyper Mesh
The crane boom modeled in Pro-engg imported in
the Altair Hyper Mesh software and the module
Optistruct solver 8.0 is used. The figure 3.6 shows
the values of nodes elements, surfaces of booms and
the modeled view in software.

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Studies

E-ISSN2249 8974

Figure 1.7 Crane Boom imported in Altair Hyper mesh software

Analysis Procedure of Altair Hyper Mesh for Crane Boom
Case 1: For 6 Tone Weight/load

Figure 1.8 &1.9 Left and Right Side and Front view of crane boom under the application of 6 Tonne Load

Figure 2.0Von mises stress distribution for 6 ton loading condition

Elements:
Finite element model information:
1. Number of TETRA elements: 235794
1. Number of nodes: 63970,
2. Number of elements: 235794,
Loads and boundaries:
3. Number of rigid elements: 5,
1. Number of FORCE sets: 1
4. Number of rigid element constraints: 2469
2. Number of SPC sets: 1
5. Number of degrees of freedom: 194376
Materials and properties:
6. Number of non-zero stiffness terms:
1. Number of PSOLID cards: 1
3624351
2. Number of MAT1 cards: 1
Elements:
Static Subcases information:
1. Number of TETRA elements: 235794
1. Subcase ID SPC ID Force ID Weight
2
1
2
1.00
Loads and boundaries:
1. Number of FORCE sets: 1Number of SPC
RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS
sets: 1
At first point of crane boom the load applied is 6000kg.
At this point load is carried with the help of a hook.
Materials and properties:
The maximum displacement is 1.91mm and maximum
1. Number of PSOLID cards: 1
3-D element stress is 238 MPa near the upper portion
2. Number of MAT1 cards: 1
where the wire assembly is done. In the figure it is
Static Sub cases information:
shown by red colour.During the analysis, the SparseSubcase ID SPC ID Force ID Weight
Matrix Solver is used and the size of maximum
2
1
2
1.00
memory used is129 MB and maximum disk space used
1. Maximum displacement is 1.91mm at grid
is 647 MB. The analysis is carried out in three load
152789.
steps. The total analysis time is approximately four
2. Maximum 3-D element stress is 238MPa in
hours taken by the software.
element 638087
Table 1.2 Nodal information
Finite element model information:
Entity Number defined Description
1. Number of nodes: 63970
Solid
2, 35,794
4 Nodded Tetrahedron
2. Number of elements: 235794
Nodes 63,970
Critical points
3. Number of rigid elements: 5
Table 1.3 Displacements (mm)
4. Number of rigid element constraints: 2469
Minimum
0.0063
5. Number of degrees of freedom: 194376
Maximum
1.91
6. Number of non-zero stiffness terms:
Table 1.4 Shear Stresses
Minimum 171 MPa
3624351
Maximum

IJAERS/Vol. I/ Issue I/October-December, 2011/51-52

238 MPa

International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Studies

From the result obtained from the analysis this is
concluded that the values of the stresses are maximum
for case 1(6 Tonne load). The life of the boom will be
minimum if it is working at that point. So try to lift the
load slightly less than its capacity at this point to get
the maximum life of the crane boom.
Conclusions and Scope for Future Work
The thesis starts with geometric and solid modeling,
which is important and essential aspect for the design
and manufacturing engineers from the viewpoint of
shape realization. The thesis present unified solid
model of Crane Boom, which is equivalent to actual
physical model of the crane boom. The geometry of the
boom surface patch is influenced by the topology of the
boom and is specified by the establishing proper
bounds to the parameters defining the unbounded
surfaces along with ensuring continuity condition. The
solid model is created using Pro/E Wildfire 2.0 using
given dimensions. Then the solid model is imported to
ALTAIR HYPER MESH and analysis of the model is
carried out in OPTISTRUCT SOLVER 8.0 under given
constraints. Present dissertation calculates the stress
and deformation at different nodes of the discretized
model of using ALTAIR HYPER MESH 8.1 software.
The stress values calculated for three load points were
found to be under the limits of ultimate tensile strength
and yield strength of boom material. So it can be said
that under the given conditions of boom material and
load carrying capacity, crane boom is safe to lift the
load up to 12 Tonne.
By using Finite Element Analysis the following
objectives have been achieved
1. Weight Reduction (4.86 kg, approx.5kg).
2. Stresses are within limits (at higher load
points).
3. Cost cutting (Rs-180/- for a single
component).
The analysis also concluded that maximum stress is
coming near the fixing position.
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CENTRE, 2005

IJAERS/Vol. I/ Issue I/October-December, 2011/51-52

E-ISSN2249 8974