Wind loading on cranes is a critical consideration in the design and operation of cranes, as cranes can be exposed to strong wind forces that greatly alter the performance and safety of operations. Understanding the effects of wind loading is essential for ensuring the stability and safety of cranes during operations, as wind can significantly impact their performance and cause potential failure if not properly accounted for. This research aims to model the wind forces on a lattice crane structure in MATLAB, with verifying results through initial CFD simulations with Ansys as well as further wind tunnel testing. In the future, this validated MATLAB model can be integrated into a larger program to allow for the quick and effective determination of a safe operational environment for crane workers daily.
A local approach for wind loading on lattice structures developed in MATLAB computes the drag and shielding effects for each of the bars, summing over the entire body resulting in the net force and point of action. Redeveloping this modeling method includes defining wind and structural parameters, computing a stochastic wind profile on each face, calculating the shielding effects and drag on lattice bars, computing the overall moment at the base, and finally visualizing the wind effects on the structure. An initial result is shown by importing a 3D lattice structure file where a weather-forecasted wind velocity profile is applied, resulting in a total force of 360 N and moment about the base of 1371 Nm.
Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) simulations are performed on the 3D tower section of a crane to analyze wind-induced effects on lattice structures. A one-way Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) approach is implemented, where aerodynamic pressure loads from the CFD domain are transferred to a structural solver for stress and deformation analysis.
The CFD setup uses a URANS framework with a Shear Stress Transport (SST) k-𝜔 turbulence model, which accurately captures both free-stream and near-wall flow characteristics. A User-Defined Function (UDF) imposes a realistic atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) wind profile at the inlet. The simulation runs for a duration of 20 seconds to capture transient aerodynamic behavior. Time-varying pressure distributions over the structure are exported and applied as input to a transient structural analysis in ANSYS. The one-way FSI model assumes that fluid forces influence structural response, while structural deformation does not significantly affect the fluid flow. The structural solver computes von Mises stress and total deformation, highlighting critical stress zones and dynamic structural response. A velocity contour animation at a selected cross-sectional plane illustrates the dynamic flow features around the lattice, and the corresponding structural results. In the simulation shown below, the transient wind velocity distribution is shown, where the flow reaches steady state at about 20 seconds.
These results are critical to accurately modeling lattice structures and designating standardized operational guidelines for the safety of wind conditions, as well as also developing a software package to analyze safety on a case by case basis. Future work includes validating the model using physical wind tunnel testing to ensure accurate modeling results and effective application.