Towed cable systems are frequently used in marine measurements where the length of the towed cable varies during launch and recovery. In this paper a novel method for modeling variable length cable systems is introduced based on the finite segment formulation. The variable length of the towed cable is described by changing the length of the segment near the towing point and by increasing or decreasing the number of the discrete segments of the cable. In this way, the elastic effects of the cable can be easily handled since geometry and material properties of each segment are kept constant. Experimental results show that the dynamic behavior of the towed cable is consistent between the model and the physical cable. Results show that the model provides numerical efficiency and simulation accuracy for the variable length towed system.
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