The present paper focuses on the Lagrange mechanics-based description of small oscillations of a spherical pendulum with a uniformly rotating suspension center. The analytical solution of the natural frequencies' problem has been derived for the case of uniform rotation of a crane boom. The payload paths have been found in the inertial reference frame fixed on earth and in the noninertial reference frame, which is connected with the rotating crane boom. The numerical amplitude-frequency characteristics of the relative payload motion have been found. The mechanical interpretation of the terms in Lagrange equations has been outlined. The analytical expression and numerical estimation for cable tension force have been proposed. The numerical computational results, which correlate very accurately with the experimental observations, have been shown.

The present paper addresses the derivation of a 3 DOF mathematical model of a spherical pendulum attached to a crane boom tip for uniform slewing motion of the crane. The governing nonlinear DAE-based system for crane boom uniform slewing has been proposed, numerically solved, and experimentally verified. The proposed nonlinear and linearized models have been derived with an introduction of Cartesian coordinates. The linearized model with small angle assumption has an analytical solution. The relative and absolute payload trajectories have been derived. The amplitudes of load oscillations, which depend on computed initial conditions, have been estimated. The dependence of natural frequencies on the transport inertia forces and gravity forces has been computed. The conservative system, which contains first time derivatives of coordinates without oscillation damping, has been derived. The dynamic analogy between crane boom-driven payload swaying motion and Foucault’s pendulum motion has been grounded and outlined. For a small swaying angle, good agreement between theoretical and averaged experimental results was obtained.