A Numerical Investigation on the Dynamic Response of Short Slack Cables

Short span cables subject to vary small values of axial force are encountered in several technical engineering applications such as flexible-bus electrical conductors and Bretelle dampers. Whenever dealing with short and slack cables, the bending stiffness contributions to the overall dynamic response are not negligible. Bending behavior of metallic cables is non-linear and non-holonomic due to the onset and propagation of relative sliding phenomena between the wires. As a consequence, the dynamic response of the envisaged applications turns out to be affected by strong geometrical and mechanical non-linearities. In this paper, a numerical approach is adopted to study the dynamics of short slack cables subject to support motion. The stranded cables are modeled as co-rotational beam finite elements with a non-linear bending moment-curvature relation based on a phenomenological model, previously developed by the research group. Results of both quasi-static and dynamic analyses are discussed.