Dynamic Calculation of Towed Cables under Heave Motion of Mother Vessels

摘要

Towed cables may undergo heavy tensions under heave motionof mother vessels. To evaluate their safeties under heave motion,dynamics calculation is often carried out. A Flexible SegmentModel (FSM) based method is used to do the dynamicscalculation of towed cables. In the method, a towed cable isdiscretized into a few of flexible segments. Governing equationsare listed according to the moment equilibrium of externalforces working on the segments. And a linear iteration isemployed to get the numerical results in dynamics calculation.As an application of the FSM based method, the numericalcalculation of a 3500m- depth towed cable is done. The cableresponses to the heave motions of mother vessel are shown inthe paper.