Tip-over stability analysis of mobile boom cranes with double-pendulum payloads

Mobile boom cranes are used throughout the world to perform important and dangerous manipulation tasks. The usefulness of these cranes is greatly improved if they can utilize their mobile base during the lifting and transferring phases of operation. During such operations, the tip-over stability is degraded when the payload swings. This paper presents a stability study of such cranes with payloads that cause double-pendulum dynamics. As a first step, a static stability analysis of a single-pendulum boom crane is conducted to provide basic insights into the effects of the payload weight and crane configuration. Then, a semi-dynamic method is used to take the payload swing into account. Finally, the results of a dynamic stability analysis obtained by using a full dynamic multi-body simulation are compared to the outcomes of the previous approaches. The results of the semi-dynamic method and the full dynamic simulation are verified by experiments. This analysis provides useful guidance for the practical tip-over stability analysis of mobile boom cranes and motivates the need to control payload oscillations.