The influence of a shock absorber on dynamics of an offshore pedestal crane

Offshore pedestal cranes are devices installed on offshore platforms or vessels. A characteristic feature of any floating object is the significant movement caused by sea waving. These movements cause that the offshore cranes are exposed to dynamic loads reasonably higher than structures of similar operational parameters but operated on land. Therefore, they are equipped with special systems for overload reduction. One of them is the shock absorber. The paper presents a mathematical model of an offshore pedestal crane with a shock absorber. Results of numerical simulations are presented to assess the effectiveness of the shock absorber in conditions when large dynamic overloads occur.