Real-time Simulation of Offshore Light Lift Operations

Abstract

Crane operations are an integral part of offshore operations. Simulators are a useful tool in conjunction with crane operations, and may be used for training of personnel, planning of operations, validation of mechanical designs, verification of crane control system integrity, etc. Simulators contain physical/mathematical models of the crane and its working environment. Models for the various parts of the crane exist in academic literature, but a complete crane simulator does not seem to have been documented. The focus of this thesis has been to extend and improve the existing models, and join them into a real-time simulator for a heave compensated knuckle boom crane. The simulator has also been prepared for interconnection to a vessel simulator.The crane simulator is validated qualitatively by simulations; the various modules have been validated separately, and, successively, the modules have been jointly validated, and finally, the complete simulator is validated. The simulator and its modules exhibited good performance during the validation.