Nine-axle All-terrain Crane Steering Linkage Analysis And Optimization

In recent years, the state has invested heavily to strengthen the constructionof rural, urban and community infrastructure, as well as petrochemical, power,metallurgy, high-speed rail and other major projects, which has played apowerful role in the construction machinery industry. Therefore, the demand ofall-terrain cranes have sharply increased, and showed the trend of large-scaledevelopment.However, for multi-axle all-terrain cranes, they always produce alarge axial load in the process of moving, which affect the steering linkage byresilience to fatigue failure, and the steering performance can not be guaranteed.If the steering linkage system’s design is irrational, it will result in generatinginterference between each steering wheel, increasing tire’s abnormal wear andtear, reducing steering sensitivity and reliability, affecting the vehicles’ safedriving.This paper was based on automobile theory, kinematics, dynamics, finiteelement analysis and structural optimization method, absorbed, summarized andconcluded the relevant literature and research and then focused on the issue ofall-terrain cranes’ steering linkage prone to fatigue failure in the steering process,to one company’s all-terrain crane’s mechanical steering system as the prototype,established a mathematical model of the whole space mechanical steeringsystem, and used multi-body system dynamics and virtual prototype theory to dostruetural dynamic analysis on steering linkage. Finally, the fatigue life of theoptimized steering linkage is estimated and the fatigue strength is also checkedthrough the finite life design method for nominal stress. Through all the researchwork, the optimization design and fatigue life research of the steering linkagewill provide reference to not only the design of suspension steering linkage butalso a theoretical basis.