Dissipative Rolling Contact During Multi-Payload Lift Operations

Cranes are often used to move large payloads with circular cross sections for use in construction and manufacturing processes. It is well known that movement of these suspended payloads can induce undesirable swing oscillations. However, rolling and sliding frictional contact between payloads and contact between payloads and the environment can also induce undesirable effects. Existing approaches for modeling rolling contact tend to rely either on the restriction of rolling to constant velocity motion or on computationally heavy techniques such as finite-element analysis. Additionally, most existing macroscopic models for rolling contact fail to account for differences in the contact force when examining rolling between two circular bodies versus rolling contact between a circular body and a plane. This work applies a novel model for rolling contact to the simultaneous lifting of multiple circular payloads. Furthermore, an algorithm is proposed for the handling of rolling contact and potential slip when a body has multiple points simultaneously in contact. Simulations investigate the impact of rolling resistance, payload properties, and rigging cable connections on the swing of suspended payloads and the system settling time following a hoist operation.