Spreading entire optical access networks to connect business customers requires the mechanical properties of compsoite optical fibre cables to be mastered and their installation in ducts to be optimized. In this context, FRANCE TELECOM is designing new cable-laying tools. One of these techniques, called pushing, consists in applying an axial compressive oad to insert cables into underground ducts. However, during this process, the cable can buckle into sinusoidal or helical spatial models. A life-sized experiments test bech has been produced at the CNET Lannion in order to understand these buckling phenomena. The sinusoidal and helical critical buckling loads and pitches are determined by using an energy approach commonly used in petroleum technologies. Cable buckling is a direct result of bending stiffness, so the influence of this will be studied in the analytical solutions. To complete this study, finite element simulations have been conducted to simulate the pushing process and comparisons made directly between numerical and experiment load values.
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