-Mobile cranes are used to lift heavy modules in industrial projects. These heavy modules are often prefabricated and each project consists of a large number of lifts (e.g., a typical industrial project may have between 150 and 1000 modules to be lifted). To ensure the safety and efficiency of these lifting activities, crane motion planning is needed. However, in practice, most of the heavy lift studies are, at best, performed semiautomatically and still require significant manual work. In addition to being inefficient, this approach is also characterized by a high error rate, especially in the context of congested construction sites, not to mention its slow response to changes in work order or project scope. For instance, if a module is delayed, the crane motion planning may need to be redesigned (at least partially) since the configuration of the obstacles on the construction site no longer conforms to what had been assumed in the original planning. This paper thus proposes a generic model for mobile crane motion planning that can be implemented in industrial projects. The proposed approach considers the typical site constraints and performs automatic planning for the entire site. An industrial project with more than 100 modules is selected for validation of the proposed method. 3D visualization is also developed to demonstrate the lifts in a 3D Studio Max environment.

Abstract-Modular-based heavy construction projects are recognized as faster, safer, and more efficient than traditional those completed through on-site construction methods. The successful completion of these projects relies on an efficient material handling system, especially when mobile cranes are utilized to satisfy heavy lift requirements. However, engineers are faced with the challenge of planning the lifting operations of heavy modules within congested areas. Currently, mobile crane analysis is implemented manually, but requires timeconsuming data input resulting in an increase of errors and a lack of proper crane productivity performance analysis; this complicates the planning process. To overcome these limitations, the research presented in this paper proposes to integrate visualization and simulation, in an approach known as post-3D visualization simulation, in order to plan collision-free crane lifts by eliminating potential errors in 3D visualization and to predict crane productivity performance in simulations. This proposed system will contribute to the successful completion of construction projects with high productivity and site-error reduction by selecting the best crane operation that includes various crane lifts. An actual industrial project which has a number of constraints, including space limitations, different types of site layouts, and various crane lifts, is used to validate the proposed framework.