Modeling of hydraulic actuation of a mobile crane

The objective of this thesis is the modeling of the hydraulic actuation circuit of a mobile crane manufactured by the Manitowoc Company through the Simcenter AMESim® software. Initially, the different types of cranes produced by the company are classified, indicating the different working principles present and the different purposes of use for which they were designed. Subsequently, the studied hydraulic circuit is introduced, explaining its overall functioning in the different conditions of use, and the working principles of the individual components present inside the circuit, paying particular attention to the load sensing system present in the circuit, characterized by both pre-compensated loads and post-compensated loads; once the circuit has been analyzed, it is presented how each single component has been modeled using elements belonging to different libraries of the AMESim® software. After that the results of different simulations are shown, initially implementing the different users individually and then simultaneously to show the effective functioning of the load sensing system, and finally, limit situations for the circuit are simulated, such as flow-rate saturation and pressure saturation. In conclusion, some considerations are given on the limitations of the model used and on how it can be improved in the future.