Digital twin for faster than real-time simulation of mobile crane operations

Abstract

The article discusses the problem of real-time prediction of the mobile crane movement based on the analysis of the dynamic and kinematic models of the crane. These models form the digital twin that can be used to facilitate the crane operation. As the crane displacements can be comparable to the load dimensions and the crane can move rather fast, thus the crane dynamics, rather than kinematics, becomes more important in its movement prediction. However, in order to be calculated faster than real-time the model should be simplified. The article considers an example of the mobile crane for which two models are developed: the detailed reference model and the simplified model, which includes the dynamic and kinematic equations. The accuracy and the calculation speed of the simplified model are estimated with respect to the reference model. Two models are compared and some assumptions are proposed for building the models for the faster than real-time calculations required for the movement prediction of mobile cranes.