The Application of Kalman Filtering to Predict Vertical Rail Axis Displacements of the Overhead Crane Being a Component of Seaport Transport Structure

As the devices designed to transport materials, the overhead cranes should meet certain geometric requirements for their operation to be safe. The presently available geodetic equipment, in particular total stations, provides opportunities for precise 3D measurements of coordinates of the controlled points. These coordinates make a basis for correcting the height of crane runway axes. The paper presents a method to calculate position corrections for the crane rail axes in both vertical and horizontal direction, and indicates that these results can find much wider application. Among other goals, the observations of this type, along with the Kalman filtration method, can be used to predict vertical displacements of the crane rail axes. The object of practical considerations in the paper is a crane working in the area with unfavourable geotechnical conditions and the settling limits attributed to this crane and location area in the technical design. The sample practical application has confirmed the validity of the use of the proposed solution for evaluating the operational safety of the crane. Although the tests were performed for the gantry crane, the proposed solution is believed to be applicable for other types of overhead cranes.