See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/307562928

Innovative Tower Crane Foundation Designs by K A T L Kodikara

Conference Paper · June 2013

CITATIONS READS

0 5,100

1 author:

Tharindu Kodikara
Queensland University of Technology
8 PUBLICATIONS   16 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Model updating of real structures with ambient vibration data View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Tharindu Kodikara on 02 September 2016.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 
 
Innovative Tower Crane Foundation Designs
K A T L Kodikara1 and G.A.S.C Samararatne2

Abstract
In large scale construction projects, especially in high rise structures, tower cranes need to be installed for material
handling purposes. To withstand the loads transferred from the tower crane to ground it requires a good sub-
structure/foundation. A tower crane is of temporary use during the construction stage. The amount that should be spent
on the tower crane foundation is a direct cost of the project. So challenges for the design engineers in the construction
sector are that the foundations should be economical and, require quick designs; they also need to adapt to several
space restrictions and should convince consultants and/or clients to give approval prior to commencement of work.
Depending on the soil conditions present at site the foundations can be either shallow or deep. There is an opportunity
for innovative economical designs with the use of the building structure since it will reduce the cost of the project. This
paper is intended to cover the structural design aspects of some innovative tower crane foundations. General loadings
for the tower crane foundations are operational loads derived from respective tower crane manuals and the wind loads
derived from relevant codes of practice. Because of the complexity of the loading arrangements and analysis cases
finite element (FE) software packages are used for the structural analysis of tower crane foundations. Several analysis
cases to be considered during FE modeling depending on the height of operation, tie levels to the structure and wind
force directions. During the structural design stage the results obtained for the critical loading combinations are used
to design the structures according to relevant codes of practice. Structural detailing is very important, especially the tie
connections to the structure, because the detailing will govern the types and magnitude of forces transferred to the
building structure.

during installation. The slewing unit sits at the top of the

1. Introduction1
A tower crane is a common piece of mechanical
equipment in a modern construction site, especially in
construction of tall buildings, and often provides the best
combination of height and lifting capacity. Tower crane
consists of five main parts namely masts, slewing unit
(gear and motor), the long horizontal jib (working arm),
shorter counter-jib, and the operator’s cab. Further the
mast is attached to the slewing unit (gear and motor) that
allows the crane to rotate.
mast. This is the engine that enables the crane to rotate.
The operating cabin sits just above the slewing unit. It
contains the operating controls. The jib, or operating arm,
extends horizontally from the crane. A "luffing" jib is able
to move up and down; a fixed jib has a rolling trolley that
runs along the underside to move goods horizontally. The
hook (or hooks) is (are) used to connect the material to
the crane. It hangs at the end of thick steel cables that run
along the jib to the motor. Large concrete counterweights
are mounted toward the rear of the mast, to compensate
for the weight of the goods lifted.

In order to transfer the loads from the tower crane to the

Figure 1: Tower Crane – Main Parts
The mast is the main supporting tower of the crane. It is
made of steel trussed sections that are connected together
1
Eng. K A T L Kodikara and 2Eng. Mrs. G.A.S.C. Samararatne
are members of Designs office,
International Construction Consortium (Pvt) Ltd.
e-mail : 1tharindukatl@gmail.com, 2sujeewa@icc-construct.com
ground it requires a sub-structure/foundation. In normal
construction practice the tower crane foundation is a
direct cost unit to the project so from the contractor’s
point of view this structure should be as economical as
possible because they cannot claim the cost from client. It
is a very challenging task for the structural engineers
employed in construction sector because they have to
arrive at an economical design and need to convince the
construction team, consultants and/or clients and need to
get approval prior to commencement of work. Also the
design is required during early mobilization stage of the
project, so the structural engineer must ensure that there is
no delay for the commencement of project. Further there
are several restrictions that the structural engineer should
take into account while designing the foundation. One of
the common restrictions is the limited space availability at
site. Most of the high rises are located at prime lands in
the country. So the free space available to accommodate
the construction equipment is limited. So the tower crane
foundation should be located with minimal disturbance to
the other construction activities. Also there is a possibility
of the tower crane working arm and/or counter jib

 

travelling over adjacent premises and that should also be
considered during design stage.
2. Design Methodology
The design cycle of tower crane foundation can be
divided into three main categories namely inputs,
activities and output. The following table illustrates the
description of the categories.
Table 1: Typical design cycle of tower crane foundations
Inputs Activities Output
Site plans, Load Structural
Architectural/Structural evaluation design reports
Drawings
Soil investigation Structural
report analysis
Supplier’s catalogues Design Validation
calculations from
consultant/
Previous design Review with
client
calculations design &
const. teams
2.1 Considering alternatives
The tower crane foundation can be either shallow or
deep depending on the soil condition at site.
Normally when the soil condition at site is healthy,
shallow foundations are used and normally it will be a raft
foundation. When the bearing capacity of the soil is high,
in order to make the foundations more economical, the
volume of the raft is reduced by sizing the foundation.
Length and breadth will be provided only to satisfy
bearing capacity of soil and to connect the four tower
crane legs. The depth of the foundation is provided only
to satisfy bending moment and shear (vertical line shear,
punching shear). Additional weight required to satisfy the
uplifting force generated by operational bending moment
of tower crane and wind force are provided by precast re
usable concrete blocks placed on top of the raft
foundation, in order to make the concrete volume and
steel tonnage in the foundations as low as possible.
When the soil condition is poor, initially the possibility
of soil improvement should be considered. But if the soil
condition is very poor then it is essential to go for deep
foundations. Since the construction cost of tower crane
foundation cannot be claimed, if new piles and a separate
structure is resorted to, it will be a huge cost overrun to
the contractor.
So it is the designer’s responsibility to design the
foundation with the use of building piles as much as
possible and get the approval from consultant/client prior
to commencing the work. When building piles are used,
the piles are connected through ground tie beams and
tower crane legs are fixed on to those ground tie beams.
Also it is very important to consider the loading of the
building piles during construction stage when building
piles are used for the tower crane foundation. The
combined load transferred from tower crane and building
during construction stage should be less than the design
capacity of the pile.
Figure 2: Tower crane foundation using building piles
connected through ground beams
2.2 Load evaluation
There are two main loading patterns that should be
taken into consideration when designing tower crane
foundations. Namely operational loads derived from
tower crane manuals and wind loads derived from codes
of practices.
Operational load will vary with the tower crane height,
tie level to the building(s), jib position, maximum lifting
weight etc. It is important to remember that when the
operational loads are derived from respective operational
manuals, the forces are given to free standing height.
Whenever the tower crane is tied to building the free
standing height is the height above the top most tie level.
For wind loads the general practice in Sri Lanka is to use
wind codes CP3 Chapter V: Part 2: 1972 [1], BS 6399
Part 2 [2] and the manual on Design of buildings for high
winds in Sri Lanka [3].
2.3 Structural analysis of the tower crane
Structural idealization is very important in the design of
tower crane foundations. In order to obtain the correct
loading to the tower crane it is essential to idealize the
structure accurately. Due to complexity of the structural
analysis it is normal practice to use finite element
software packages for 3 dimensional analysis - e.g.
SAP2000 [4].
There are number of cases to be modeled depending on
the tower crane height of operation and the number of
levels the tower crane is tied to the building. For the
foundation design, normally the critical condition is the
free standing operation of the tower crane, since all the
bending and torsional moments are directly transferred to
the foundation. When the tower crane is tied to the
building, the loads transferred to bracing are more critical
than loads transferred to foundation.
A number of cases need to be modeled in order to find
out the most efficient tie levels to the building so that the
loads transferred to the building are kept to a minimum.

Normally this procedure is carried out on a trial and error
basis.
Figure 3: An example of analysis cases with different tie
levels to the building
Ties to the building are modeled as pinned connections
because it is unfavorable to transfer the bending and
torsional moments to the building. Also, in general
practice the consultant/client will not allow the use of
fixed/ moment connections to the building.
Figure 4: Typical 3 D model (SAP2000) with pinned
connections to the building
When loads assigning to the tower crane model should
be carefully consider all the possible arrangements of jib
positions (parallel to the building, perpendicular to the
building, diagonal to building) and for each and every jib
position there are two wind loading conditions namely
wind parallel to the jib and wind perpendicular to the jib.
Figure 5: Wind load assignment –Parallel to jib
2.4 Load combinations used in the structural analysis
Load combinations are chosen as per the relevant codes
of practice. As per BS 8110: Part 1:1997 [5] the following
load combinations are considered as usually practice in
Sri Lanka.
Com. 1 : 1.0 Dead + 1.0 Sdead + 1.0 Live
Com. 2 : 1.4 Dead + 1.4 Sdead + 1.6 Live
Com. 3 : 1.2 Dead + 1.2 Sdead + 1.2 Live + 1.2 Wind X
Com. 4 : 1.2 Dead + 1.2 Sdead + 1.2 Live + 1.2 Wind Y
Com. 5 : 1.0 Dead + + 1.0 Sdead + 1.4 Wind X
Com. 6 : 1.0 Dead + + 1.0 Sdead + 1.4 Wind Y
Envelope : Envelope of all Combinations
The dead weight of the Tower Crane (Dead) includes the
self weight of the tower crane (with jib). Super imposed
dead weight (Sdead) includes the counter balance weight
plus maximum lifting weight. Operational live bending
moment (Live) includes the bending moment on tower
crane (obtained from the manual). Wind load - (Wind X)
includes the wind force perpendicular to the jib and Wind
load - (Wind Y) includes the wind force acting parallel to
the jib.
In order to get at the most critical load combination, the
envelope of the all possible load combinations is
considered and structural design is carried out for the
worst case scenario.
2.5 Structural design
Structural design is carried out based on the resultant
forces obtained from the 3 dimensional finite element
model analysis.
For the design of substructure in Sri Lanka BS 8110:
Part 1:1997 [5] is used. The tower crane bracing to the
building is with steel universal beams and/or L angles.
Therefore for the steel design BS 5950: Part 1: 2000 [6] is
used.
It is very important to check the connection of tower
crane leg to the substructure for the possible up-lifting
due to wind load and operational bending moments
generated through tower crane operation and to provide
adequate anchorage length for tower crane leg into the
foundation.
2.6 Typical connection details
There are two critical connections associated with
tower cranes. Namely connection of tower crane legs to
the foundation and tower crane ties to the building.
Connection of tower crane legs to the foundation is
normally done by embedding the tower crane leg into the
foundation by providing adequate anchorage lengths for
compression and tension. In order to enhance the
connection, tor steel bars are welded to tower crane legs
(fish tails).
The tower crane tie to the building is normally detailed
as pin connected, to ensure that no moment is transferred
to the building. Also, it is essential to allow the tower
crane to rotate freely through its own vertical axis in high
wind situations to ensure the safety of the tower crane.

Figure 6: Typical tower crane tie to the building –Plan
3. Examples Discussion
The main objective of all the innovative designs for
tower crane foundations will be to provide structurally
feasible solutions with a saving in monetary terms
compared to conventional solutions. Two examples of
such innovative designs are briefly outlined below.
3.1 Examples for savings in innovative tower crane
foundation designs
The Secretariat for Personnel Identification (SPI) at
Battaramulla is a 22 storied building and requires two
tower cranes with a maximum height of operation of
100m. According to the soil investigation reports the soil
condition at the site is very poor and clearly not
recommended for a shallow foundation design. Since the
weak soil layers are present at even 20m below existing
ground level, soil improvement is also not possible. So
there is no other option other than deep foundations. For
the stability of a tower crane, a minimum of three piles is
required. Rather than employing three new piles, two
building piles were used and only one new pile was cast
and connected through ground beams.
Figure 7: Innovative tower crane foundation - SPI
View publication stats
The estimated cost for the conventional design with
three new piles and pile cap is 3.5 million rupees
approximately; whereas the actual cost incurred for the
innovative design adopted is 1.5 million rupees. So the
approximate saving with the innovative design is 2
million rupees.
Urban Regeneration Project Phase 1 (URP) is a 13
storeyed residential building for low income persons in
Sri Lanka. It requires a tower crane with a maximum
operation height of 45m. The table below provides a
comparison of the conventional design and innovative
design adopted with the saving in monetary terms.
Table 2: Comparison of the conventional design and
innovative design – URP –Phase 1
Conventional design Innovative design adopted
Poor soil conditions Two building piles
Minimum of three end Only two new piles with
bearing piles plus pile cap extended pile cap
Approximate cost – 2 Approximate cost – 1
million rupees million rupees
Saving with innovative design - 1 million
4. Concluding Discussion
As there is no end for the innovations in any field, there
is always space for further developments in the innovative
designs of tower crane foundations. One aspect we have
already looked into is pre-cast foundations that can be
dismantled after the completion of the project and re-used
in future projects. This idea is already implemented at
design stage but not yet implemented in a project.
It is very important to research for innovative methods
of tower crane foundation designs and to keep the
discussion open, so that everyone is benefited in the
industry by saving money and sharing knowledge.
References
[1] CP3 Chapter V: Part 2: 1972. Code of practice for wind loading,
British Standards Institution, London.
[2] BS 6399 Part 2. Loading for buildings: Code of practice for wind
loads, British Standards Institution, London.
[3] Design of buildings for high winds in Sri Lanka, Ministry of Local
Government, Housing and Construction, Colombo, 1980.
[4] SAP 2000 – Integrated finite element analysis and design of
structures, Computers and Structures, Inc, Berekeley, 1998.
[5] BS 8110: Part 1: 1997. Structural use of concrete, British Standards
Institution, London.
[6] BS 5950: Part 1: 2000. The structural use of steelwork in buildings,
British Standards Institution, London.