Three Dimensional Dynamic Analysis for Laying and Recovery of Optical Submarine Cables

Abstract

The author has developed two types of cable laying simulation programs based on three dimensional dynamic analysis method in order to analyze dynamic behavior of cables, repeaters and branching unit during laying and recovery.
One is a computer simulation program for laying and recovery of submarine cables with repeaters. This program has following two new functions is addition to conventional cable laying simulation.
(1) Slack control laying function. The cable pay-out speed is automatically calculated by internal feed back loop so as to make bottom cable slacks be constant. Using this function, the optimum cable pay -out speed history can be obtained by giving the bottom profile and cable ship speed profile.
(2) Tension control laying function. The cable pay-out speed is automatically calculated by internal feed back loop so as to make shipboard tension be constant. The speed error of cable ship measured by 'taut wire' is discussed using this program. This error is exactly analyzed using this tension control laying simulation.
The other is a computer program for laying and recovery submarine cables with a cable branching unit. The cable branching unit (BU) is newly installed to the optical submarine cable systems. This newly developed program can analyze dynamic behavior of BU and cables around it, and help to study how to lay BU with sufficient cable slacks and recover it safety.
The sea trial was carried out in order to measure hydrodynamic constant of the submarine cable and verify this computer simulation method at the depth of 6000m by attaching sensors to the submarine cable at some intervals. According to the sea trial, the normal drag coefficient Cd was measured to 2.5, andd the cable configuration measured by this experiment was in good agreement with the result of the computer simulation.