Virtual prototyping-based multibody systems dynamics analysis of offshore crane

Dynamics is concerned with the study of forces and torques and their effect onmotion. As formulating the suitable dynamics models for an offshore crane is very crucial for analyzing the behavior and lightweight design, many researches have been focused on it in recent decades with a result of many valuable contributions. However, current researches always focus on rigid crane, while the crane is always a rigid-flexible coupling multibody system, which can affect the accuracy of dynamic analysis. This paper proposed a model of dynamics analysis of an offshore crane based on rigid-flexible coupling virtual prototyping. After the structure and performance parameters of the 800-ton offshore crane were introduced, rigid-flexible coupling virtual prototyping-based dynamics analysis and numerical simulation were then put forward. The dynamics experiment is carried out based on offshore crane physical prototyping, and experimental results indicate successful lifting load with predetermined boom angle, which demonstrates that the accuracy of the dynamics analysis is based on rigid-flexible coupling virtual prototyping. The design of an offshore crane is given as an example which demonstrates that the methodology is obviously helpful to offshore crane design.