Nonlinear Repeated Unit Cell Finite Element Modelling of Helical Strand Cables by Dominic Martin Smith, Lee S. Cunningham, Lujia Chen :: SSRN

multilayered helical strand cables subject to tensile loading and bending with

an initial tensile load. The approach utilises the axial periodicity in helical

structures to reduce computational domain to two cable periods. A novel

mesh creation method allowing the exact geometry of helical strands to be

discretised into solid elements while maintaining flat end surfaces is proposed.

Periodic boundary conditions (PBC) allowing for geometric and material

nonlinearity are used to implement cyclic loads to study hysteresis in single

and multilayered cables. Comparisons are made to existing experimental

and analytical results validate the models ability to capture hysteresis due

to plasticity and geometric effects such as the stick-slip transition in bending.

Examination of the cross-sectional stress distribution shows plasticity

initiates at contact points at loads which are 25% of the load at which the

cable tensile response deviates from linearity.