SUMMARY
Mobile boom cranes are used throughout the world to perform important and dangerous manipulation tasks. Given their mobility, these types of cranes can quickly be moved into position. Generally, their base is then fixed and stabilized before they start lifting heavy materials. The usefulness of these cranes can be greatly improved if they can utilize their mobile base during the lifting and transferring phases of operation. This ability greatly expands the workspace by combining base motion with the rotation, lifting, and luffing motions. Of course, mobile cranes lose some stability margin when a payload is attached. The stability is further degraded when the payload swings. This thesis presents a stability study of mobile cranes with swinging payloads. As a first step, a static stability analysis of a boom crane is conducted in order to provide basic insights into the effects of the payload weight and crane configuration. Then, a semi-dynamic method is used to take the payload swing into account. The approach estimates the maximum possible payload for straight-line motions of a mobile boom crane. The permissible payload is shown to be a function of the maximum acceleration and velocity. As a next step, the results of a dynamic stability analysis obtained by using a multi-body simulation of the boom crane are compared to the outcomes of the previous approaches. The simulation results are experimentally verified and also used to draw conclusions about circular maneuvers of a mobile boom crane. Finally, a command generation technique called input shaping is used to create acceleration commands that reduce the payload deflection, eliminate residual payload swing, and thus increase the maximum possible payload. In this context, the effects of traditional input shapers on boom crane stability are investigated, deflection vector diagrams are introduced as a shaper design tool, and a technique called multi-input shaping is presented.