Tutorial on Cranes

A statue is to be placed above a road cutting along the freeway north of Sydney. It is intended
that a Lima 900T crane be used for this task.
• The only access to this point is from the freeway at the bottom of the cutting.
• The wall of the cutting is vertical and 6 metres high.
• The statue is to be placed 5 metres back from the edge of the cutting.
• The distance from the centerline of the hook to the base of the statue is 8 metres.
• The minimum allowable distance from the boom tip to the centerline of the hook is 2
metres.
• The statue must be at least 1 metre above the ground as it slews over the ground above the
cutting.
• It may be assumed that the boom is square in cross section with a side of 1 metre.
• The minimum safety distance between the boom and the edge of the cliff is 500mm.
• The all up weight of the statue, lifting chains, hooks etc is 15,000 kg.
• At least one lane of the freeway must be kept open. Therefore no part of the crane may
extend more than 9 metres from the cutting wall.
• Crane details are provided.
Determine:
1. The minimum required boom tip pulley height above the base of the cutting when the
statue is over the ground above the cutting, and also the maximum distance of the boom
base pivot point (not the center of rotation) away from the cutting wall.
2. The minimum angle that the boom can make to the horizontal and still clear the cutting
edge with required safety clearance.
3. The minimum angle that the boom can make to the horizontal when lowering the statue
into position.
4. The minimum boom length (from the table) required to do the job.
5. Your conclusion as to whether or not the crane can safely do the job.

Capacity - over side and rear with outriggers in kg

Boom Length
Lifting 15.2 ∠0 18.2 ∠0 21.3 ∠0 24.3 ∠0 27.4 ∠0 30.4 ∠0 33.5 ∠0 36.5 ∠0
m m m m m m m m
Radius
3.6 m 81630 80
4.5 m 77095 77 77095 79
6.1 m 58490 71 58490 74 58093 76 57957 78
7.6 m 40089 65 40089 69 40089 72 40089 74 40089 76 40089 78 40089 79
9.1 m 29568 58 29568 64 29568 68 29568 71 29568 73 29668 75 29522 76 29622 77
10.6 m 23264 51 23241 58 23219 63 23219 67 23219 70 23173 72 23128 73 23128 75
12.2 m 19183 43 19092 53 19047 59 19047 63 19001 66 18978 69 18956 71 18956 72
13.7 m 16235 34 15872 46 16099 54 16099 59 16031 62 16031 65 15963 68 15917 70
15.2 m 14013 21 13945 39 13899 48 13899 55 13831 59 13809 62 13763 65 13695 67
18.2 m 10884 20 10815 36 10815 45 10679 51 10702 56 10611 59 10611 62
21.3 m 8775 18 8729 34 8661 42 8616 48 8525 53 8525 56
24.3 m 7301 17 7210 32 7142 40 7051 46 7051 50
Figure 1. Side elevation of Lima 900T mobile crane.

Figure 2. Rear elevation of Lima 900T mobile crane

 Solution

1. The minimum required boom tip pulley height above the base of the cutting when the
statue is slewed over the ground above the cutting is
Height of cutting + clearance above ground + statue height to hook + hook to boom tip
= 6m + 1m + 8m + 2m
=17m

Maximum distance of the boom base pivot point away from the cutting wall is
Width of working area - tail radius - front of cab radius
= 9m - 3.8m - 1.04m
= 4.16m

2. The minimum angle that the boom can make to the horizontal and still clear the cutting
edge.

The minimum distance from the boom centerline to the edge of the cutting wall is
Half of the boom width + required clearance
= 0.5m + 0.5m
= 1m

Vertical distance from the boom base pivot point to the top of the wall is
Wall height - boom base pivot point height
= 6m - 1.82m
= 4.18m

1m

X
Boom
centerline

4.18m

4.16m
Assume X =1.25m
 4.18 
θ = tan −1  
 4.16 − 1.25 
= 55.10
Check X: 1/sin(55.1) = 1.22 – close enough
3. The minimum angle that the boom can make to the horizontal when lowering the statue
into position.

Minumum vertical distance from the boom base pivot point to the boom tip pulley is
Boom tip pulley height - boom base pivot point height
= 17m - 1.82m
= 15.18m

Boom
centerline

15.18m

5m + 4.16m

 15.18 
θ = tan −1  
 5 + 4.16 
= 58.90

4. The minimum boom length (from the table) required to do the job.

Governing angle is 58.90. Therefore using diagram above.

Minimum boom length = 15.182 + (5 + 4.16 )
2

= 17.7 m
Smallest size above this is 18.2m

5. Your conclusion as to whether the crane can safely do the job.

The radius of the statue from the statue's resting place to the swivel point of the crane is
Setback of the statue + working area width - tail radius
= 5 metres + 9 metres - 3.8 metres
= 10.2 metres

At 10.6 metre radius an 18.2m boom can lift 23 241 kg so the crane will easily be able to
place the 15 000 kg load at 10.2 metres.