Research On Lightweight Design Of Gantry Crane Outrigger System

Gantry crane is a kind of lifting vehicle which is widely used in various material handling situations, and the metal structure is an important part of the gantry crane. Outrigger system is composed of rigid leg, flexible leg and lower beam, which are core components to support and walk. However, compared with foreign advanced products, domestic production of gantry cranes are generally heavier than abroad by 20% to 50%, and some even more. Not only domestic but also abroad, research on outrigger system lightweight design on the case of whole gantry considering buckling stability is rarely reported. The determinants of gantry crane outrigger system weight are stability conditions rather than stiffness conditions. Increasing stiffeners is the most important way to ensure stability. Study on the arrangement of stiffeners in leg system is important for the lifting of gantry crane, which is also the basis of study on the lightweight design of gantry crane outrigger system.In this paper, U-type and A-type gantry cranes are taken as research objects to study the effect of internal stiffeners on the performance of the whole machine, and explore lightweight design method of gantry crane outrigger system based on this.The main contents are as follow:(1) In order to improve the design quality and work efficiency of gantry crane, using APDL as second developing tools, parametric finite element modal of 40t U-type and 50t A-type gantry cranes are built. The strength, stiffness and stability of two kinds of gantry cranes are analyzed and compared.(2) Taking the U-type gantry crane outrigger system as an example to study the effects of five different stiffeners on the buckling stability, static stiffness, dynamic stiffness and strength.(3) Based on the study of the influence law of outrigger system stiffener on the lifting performance of gantry crane, sensitivity analysis of each design parameter is conducted by using the PDS modules of ANSYS. The design variables of optimization design are finalized, and U-type and A-type gantry crane outrigger system have a certain weight reduction by lightweight design. Finally, the lifting capacity of lightweight gantry crane is verified, which can provide reference for outrigger system of gantry crane and similar structure.