Strukturella förbättringar av en markstabiliseringsmast

Sammanfattning: This report has examined the possibilities of stiffening and strengthening a ground stabilization mast, in a way that a small production company can manufacture. The soil stabilization technique in question is Jet-Grouting also called injection drilling, which involves drilling to the desired depth and then letting high-pressure water jets mixed with filling mass to erode the surrounding soil mass and form pillars below the ground surface. The study intends to explore the possibility of placing a simplified model in the simulation program ANSYS that uses the finite element method (FEM) to obtain its results. The product development method described by Karl T. Ulrich and Steven D. Eppinger in the book "Product Design and Development" is then used to produce improvement proposals that will strengthen the mast. The purpose of this study was to identify the strength of a ground stabilization mast and then produce and present an improvement proposal, based on the rotation head that is now mounted on the ground stabilization mast. This rotary head is named "RH24X HP 67 TS" and is produced by Eurodrill, and it generates a maximum torque of 24 kNm. The simulations on the mast with the given torque resulted in the highest stress of 158 MPa to which the mast body was exposed to. With the design that the mast current design, it entails a 2.3 factor of safety, which is considered acceptable since the recommended factor of safety for this type of heavy machine is about 2 (Khan, et al., 2016). When the torque was increased to the limit of the mast, i.e., when the factor of safety is close to 1, it resulted in a maximum torque of 54 kNm. Mounting a rotary head with a torque of 54 kNm is therefore not recommended due to the low safety margin that it would entail. Market research has been done and the proposals presented in this study presents similar manufactures and series as of the current rotary head. The recommended rotary heads come from the Eurodrill X-series and are called "RH32X HP 67 TS" and it produces a maximum torque of 32 kNm, alternatively "RH 4300 HP 48 TSS" which produces a torque of 34 kNm. The improvement proposals presented in this report are developed by evaluating the results of the simulations performed and then identifying the weakest areas. Then, based on the product development method, generate a proposal that can stiffen and strengthen the ground stabilization mast. The improvement proposal on the cradle showed with the rotary head "RH24X HP 67 TS" a 4.8 factor of safety, compared to the current cradle which has a 2.6 factor of safety, it is almost a doubling in strength. A new design of trusses was presented and resulted in a 35% increase in rigidity without the need to add any new material. This means that by re-examining the structure of the truss you can strengthen and possibly check the rigidity of the mast, which among other things leads to better manoeuvrability without any real extra costs being needed.