Tower Crane Section Collapse and Danger Zone Modeling

When a tower crane is assembled, disassembled, or reconfigured, the potential collapse of the structure poses a significant danger to the surrounding area. Those types of modifications to the physical structure of a tower crane are complex processes that require careful coordination between many people. The timing of the modification processes, along with the environmental conditions such as wind, are critical to safe operation. Unfortunately, during these processes, accidents can occur wherein sections of the tower crane collapse. In this paper, a dynamic model is used to simulate the collapse or tip-over of various tower crane configurations associated with partially assembled structures. The model is used to predict the probability of crane sections landing in certain areas around the tower crane, including collision modeling with nearby buildings and structures. The results allow for the prediction of the areas of potential danger zones in real world construction sites. Monte Carlo simulation outputs indicating the degree of danger are visualized with heat maps. This information can be used to inform street closure decisions with high fall zone probabilities.}