Decision support system for crane selection and location optimization on construction sites

Selecting the most appropriate cranes and identifying ideal crane locations on site can improve the productivity and safety of large-scale construction projects. A significant proportion of crane accidents have been caused by improper crane selection, lack of a proper crane support system, or a failure to calculate actual support reactions. This research presents a methodology to select feasible crane and optimize crane locations by evaluating the crane support reactions. This research seeks to provide practitioners with a methodology for successful crane operations through the utilization of decision support system. The developed system assists in proper crane selection, and also calculates the crane support reactions in order to design the support system. The proposed methodology optimizes the load moments for all lifted loads in order to identify the ideal crane location, which can in turn assist in selecting the most appropriate crane. Three case studies are described in order to demonstrate the use of the presented methodology for improving crane operations. This research aims to establish crane operational standardization for large projects involving multiple heavy lifts, such as modular building construction and Alberta Oil-Sands projects.