In the paper, the authors present construction stages of simulation models worked out using SolidWorks and Matlab/Simulink environments. As examples of simulation models, a laboratory truck crane and a forest crane have been shown. These models allow for visualization of movements, tracking of the trajectory, velocity and acceleration of any point of the system.

In Nantes, the last shipyard closed in 1986 leaving the city in a desperate situation. The cranes, symbolizing the industrial activity, one by one stopped. Unemployment stroked. The question was between turning the page, tearing down the workshops and reinventing a new story or trying to preserve would appear to most of the population, a kind of modern bulky legacy. In the early 2000’s, the revitalization of Nantes’ former industrial area, led to developing a new way thinking. Instead of designing an urban map with major spots and rows of housing, A. Chemetoff thought better to draw an urban landscape where the past could mix with the future. The industrial heritage has been then preserved in two diff erent ways: construction halls have been reshaped preserving the original structure, everything should be reversed. The intangible heritage, meaning worker’s knowledge, has been reinvested in the cultural industry. This way, the image of the city, its brand, moved from industrial to cultural, attracting a new kind of business, mainly high-tech, students, in a new: “art de Vivre” (Art of living).

The paper presented the model of a problem of choosing the location of a car crane for the installation of prefabricated elements in a given assembly situation with the solution proposal. The issue relates to the situation, in which the dimensions of the shielding structure (assembled) are specified, sizes and weights of the prefabricated elements with their location on the structure. The solution seeks the best location of a crane from the point of view of the parameters of the crane, scope and height of the lift.

The introduction of the sustainable development elements in the construction industry leads to finding new ways of using waste minerals that are difficult in storage and recycling. Coal combustion products have been already introduced into building materials as a part of cement or concrete but they have been thought insufficiently compatible with the polymer-cement binders [7]. The paper presents results of the mechanical properties of polymer-cement composites containing two types of mineral additives: waste perlite powder that is generated during the perlite expanding process, and calcium fly ash which is the byproduct of burning coal in conventional furnaces. Mechanical tests of polymer-cement composites modified with wastes were carried out after 28 and 90 days of curing. As a part of preliminary study specific surface area and particle size distribution of mineral wastes were determined.

We propose a class of m-crane control systems, that generalizes two- and three-dimensional crane systems. We prove that each representant of the described class is feedback equivalent to the second order chained form with drift. In consequence, we prove that it is differentially flat. Then we investigate its control properties and derive a control law for tracking control problem.

The peculiarity of offshore cranes, i. e. cranes based on ships or drilling platforms, is not only a significant motion of their base, but also the taut-slack phenomenon. Under some circumstances a rope can temporarily go completely slack, while a moment later, the force in the rope can increase to nominal or even higher value. Periodic occurrence of such phenomena can be damaging to the supporting structure of the crane and its driver. In the paper, mathematical models of offshore cranes that allow for analysis of the taut-slack phenomenon are presented. Results of numerical calculations show that the method of load stabilization proposed by the authors in their earlier works can eliminate this problem.

In offshore pedestal cranes one may distinguish three components of considerable length: a pedestal, a boom and a frame present in some designs. It is often necessary in dynamical analyses to take into account their flexibility. A convenient and efficient method for modelling them is the rigid finite element method in a modified form. The rigid finite element method allows us to take into account the flexibility of the beam system in selected directions while introducing a relatively small number of additional degrees of freedom to the system. This paper presents a method for modelling the pedestal, the frame and the boom of an offshore column crane, treating each of these components in a slightly different way. A custom approach is applied to the pedestal, using rigid finite elements of variable length. Results of sample numeric computations are included.

Crane selection is an important issue in assembly works planning. Tower and telescopic, stationary and mobile cranes used in construction have essentially different properties. Assembly planning begins in analyzing the possibilities of assembly with a given crane. This is called technical aspect of crane selection. Cranes that meet the technical criteria are then analyzed in terms of other criteria related to the effectiveness of their use on the construction site. The article presents the assessment of the selection criteria and the method of crane selection itself. Surveys conducted among construction managers and planners in Polish companies dealing with assembly works allowed to determine the significance of the selection criteria. For this purpose, an example using SAW (Simple Additive Weighting) and FSAW (Fuzzy Simple Additive Weighting) methods was presented. They also allowed to propose a technique for determining preferences in the use of selected construction cranes. The aim of the research was to increase the usability of computer applications supporting assembly planning by acquiring expert knowledge for the initial selection of organizational solutions.