Optimal design of welded I-beam of slewing pillar jib crane

Abstract

In this paper, the process of analyzing and optimizing of jib boom is presented. The reduction in the weight of the welded I-beam, or the cross-sectional area of the beam, was set as the main objective of this study, with the essence of replacing the standard rolled profile with welded ones. Apart from the criteria of allowed deflection and stress, stresses in a weld, both in the carrier itself and in carrier connection with a swivel part of structure. Also, certain constructive and technological recommendations were used, which representing additional constraint function in the optimization process. Optimization was performed using by MATLAB software package for Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (APSO), the Firefly Algorithm (FA) and the Cuckoo Search Algorithm (CSA), as well as the Ms. EXCEL software package, i.e. Solver tool, where optimization algorithms for constrained nonlinear problems are used (the generalized reduced gradient method and the evolution optimization algorithm). The obtained results were verified on real examples of pillar jib cranes, and they are showing the justification of procedure application.