Strumming of nonlinear

cable elements using modal

superposition
Hang Tuah
Civil Engineering Department, Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia.

J. W. Leonard
Professor of Ovil and Ocean Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331,
USA
(Received April 1989)

A wake-oscillator model of cable strumming effects is used in a

numerical procedure to predict the strumming response of hydrodynamically loaded cable systems incorporating long curved cables.
The finite element method is used in a combined time-domain and
frequency-domain solution method. Transverse strumming motions
are assumed to be small compared to nonlinear in-line displacements
and to occur at much higher frequencies than the in-line frequencies.
A modal superposition technique is used to predict strumming
response superposed on nonlinear time-domain solutions for in-line
motions. Two examples are included, a horizontal cable vibrating in
a uniform current, and a three-leg single point mooring of a large buoy
subject to ocean waves.

Keywords: strumming, cables,

finite elements, dynamics

A flexible cable is a structural element that ideally supports tensile loads only. Extremely long and slender
flexural members, such as risers on oil production platforms, also exhibit primary tensile behaviour away from
supports. Cables are used as tethers to connect two or
more items, or as major structural components in many
land-based and sea-based systems 1. They are used as
warp lines in midwater and bottom trawls 2'3. Tethers
are the primary seakeeping restraints for floating buoys,
platforms, and breakwaters and for moored vessels 4-6.
Wave, current, and tidal drift are resisted by multiple
lines, sometimes called tension or catenary legs. The
objects can be floating, as in the case of platforms, or
completely submerged, as in the case of submerged
buoyant breakwaters.
The prediction of the strumming response of a cable
to vortex sheeding may be thought to consist of four
major components: a structural model, an excitation
model, a damping model, and an analysis method 7. In
this work the emphasis is on the improvement of structural models.

hydrodynamic, vortex shedding,

mathematical description. It is a load-adaptive member

in that it prefers to change geometry in response to
changes in load rather than to increase stress levels.
Mathematically, this implies nonlinear equations of
motion even if the material and load characteristics are
linear.
In systems with hydrodynamically loaded cables, the
dynamic coupling between the fluid loads on the cable
and the response of the other main structural components is often ignored or approximated by a quasistatic analysis. Young 8"9, demonstrated that such a
decoupled analysis is not always accurate and is usually
overconservative. The fluid loads 10.11 consist of drag
and inertia forces in-line with the resultant motions of
the cabl~, relative to the fluid velocities and accelerations, a/i~of a lift force transverse to the in-line direction. The~dtag and lift are nonlinear in that they depend
on the square of the in-line relative velocity. An additional nonlillearity occurs due to the dependence on
orientation of the drag, inertia, and lift forces 12.

Strumming
Hydrodynamic response of cables
The response of a cable to hydrodynamic loads is complex and does not lend itself readily to exact
0141-0296/92/050282-09
1 9 9 2 B u t t e r w o r t h - H e i n e m a n n Ltd

282 Eng. Struct. 1992, Vol. 14, No 5

Lift forces are the periodic transverse forces generated

by vortices as they alternatively shed from each side of
the cable t3. For unsteady flow, about nonstationary

Strumming of nonlinear cable elements: Hang Tuah and J. W. Leonard

structures, the oscillating frequencies are unlikely to
equal the shedding frequencies: resonances will occur
near natural frequencies of the structure which in turn
alter the response frequencies. The lift coefficients vary
with time and depend on the velocities and amplitudes of
motion transverse to the in-line directions ~4"~5. These
oscillatory motions are called strumming t6 and cause
high-frequency vibrations and increased (approximately
250%) in-line drag on the cable. As a consequence of the
high-frequency vibrations, the system is subject to considerably higher fatigue loads and the system components have reduced service lives. Transverse
vibrations also lead to increased time-dependent in-line
drag and therefore higher stress levels or power requirements for towing.
The phenomenon of lock-on occurs in shorter
segments when, in a range of incident fluid velocities
with vortex shedding frequencies which bracket a
natural frequency of the structure, the vortices are
instead shed at a frequency near the natural frequency
and lead to quasiresonant, large amplitude motions.
Mathematical models for the coupling of the lift forces
and displacements are described below. However, the
models, even for shorter segments, are based on
mathematical rather than physical arguments and have
been questioned on that and other bases t3.
in field investigations t7'~8, of extremely long
segments with length-to-diameter ratios greater than
1 x 104 lock-on to a single resonant frequency has not
been observed. Instead, the dynamic response at any
location along the member is dominated by local excitations. Tra'velling waves generated by localized vortex
shedding are rapidly attenuated as they travel along the
member ~8. This implies that the strumming of long
cables more closely resembles a stochastic nonlock-on
process than a determinate lock-on to a single standing
wave and that the amplitude dependent drag coefficients
for in-line forces will vary temporally as well as
spatially along the member. This behaviour is attributable to two factors. Firstly, as the length of the member
increases, the differences between natural frequencies
decrease until for large slenderness ratios the frequencies are so close that the assumption of lock-on a single
mode is impractical. Secondly, for longer members, the
flow profile is more likely to be nonuniform and since
the vortex shedding frequency is proportional to fluid
velocity, the disruption in the shedding process hinders
lock-on.
The above discussion of short and long members pertained to straight cables and risers. Very little is known
of the effect of curvature of the member of the strumming characteristics of the system. Clearly, the local fluid
Table 1

velocity normal to a strongly curved cable will vary

significantly along the cable. Also, the validity of the
independence principle for vortex shedding is untested.
Previous research
The response of hydrodynamically loaded cables is complicated by both geometric and load nonlinearities. In
oceanic applications, prestressing tensions may be small
and gross changes in geometry may occur with small
changes in end loadings or relative currents. Additional
nonlinearities are introduced because of embedment of
the cable in a relatively dense fluid medium.
Analysis methods
Analysis methods for hydrodynamically loaded cables
have been reviewed by Casarella and Parsons 19 and
Migliori and Webster 2. Four classes of solution
methods are in current use for the numerical analysis of
the three-dimensional response of oceanic cable
systems: (1), lumped parameter methods or finite difference methods; (2), finite element methods; (3),
method of imaginary reactions; and (4), direct numerical
integration. References pertinent to each of these classes
are listed in Table 1.
In the various numerical methods, the nonlinear
aspects of cable behaviour are treated either incrementally or iteratively. For incremental methods, the
loading functions are applied in small steps and
linearized cable equations are solved for perturbations
introduced by each successive load increment. For
iterative methods, trial solutions are substituted into the
governing equations and error functions are generated to
evaluate the quality of the trial solutions. Successive
iterations are performed so as to reduce the error functions.
Cables are considered to be slender bodies and thus
the Morison equation is applicable 21, and has been
modified to express the in-line drag and inertia forces in
terms of relative velocities and accelerations, both
tangential and normal to the cable 22. Choo and
Casarella ~0 and DeZoysa 23 have addressed the problem
of specifying inertia and drag coefficients for cables.
The effect of cross flow vibrations on in-line drag coefficients has been noted by several investigators 13.16
'24 '25 .
Excitation models
Lift forces are perpendicular to the in-line relative
motions of the cable. Two approaches have been used to
compute the dynamic response of cables due to vortex

References on numerical methods

Lumped-parameter

Finite element

Imaginary reactions

Direct integration

Seide126
Thresher and Nath 27
Liu 29
Nuckolls and Dominguez 3
Leonard and Nath 12
Sanders 31
A b l o w and Schechter 32

Leonard and Recker 33

Leonard 34,28
Fellipa 3s
Webster 36
i a e t al. 37
Leonard and Nath12
Lo and Leonard 38
Delmer e t al. 39
Leonard and Tuah 4

Skop and O'Hara 41

Dominguez and Smith 42
Nath 43
Watson and Kuneman 44
Rosenthal and Skop 45

Gay 46
Schram and Reyle 47
Wang 4a
Choo and Casarella 49
Chang and Pilkey s
DeZoysa 23
Wingham and Kreshaven 5~
Leonard 52 - 54

Eng. Struct. 1992, Vol. 14, No 5 283

Strumming of nonlinear cable elements: Hang Tuah and J. W. Leonard

shedding: firstly deterministic and secondly, random
vibration.
In the deterministic approach, the responses are
assumed to be periodic in nature. The frequency of
strumming of shorter components in ocean waves is
assumed to be similar to that in steady flow with variable
velocity 53. Bishop and Hassan sa pointed out the lock-on
phenomenon. Hartlen and Currie 57 and Griffin et a l . 15
developed wake-oscillator models for predicting the lift
coefficient as a function of time. Iwan and Blevins ~4
developed a similar model using a different approach.
Hall and Iwan 58 studied the interference and coupling
of two modes in a lock-on model. Because the strumming frequencies are much higher than the in-line frequencies, strumming has been treated separately as small
fluctuations about the in-line motions 36'59. For shorter
components, modal superposition is used, with mode
shapes and frequencies recomputed every few steps in an
incremental solution in the time domain 6'6~ Iwan and
Bothelo 62 propose an analytical-empirical model based
on Sarpkaya's data 24 to arrive at nonlinear algebraic
equations for both lock-on and nonlock-on models.
Incorporated in these deterministic models is the
assumption that fluid motion is completely correlated
along the length of the cable. However, the finite correlation length in real response of the fluid motion can
have a large effect on the fluid force on the cable at high
Reynolds numbers and low amplitudes of cable
vibration 63.
Blevins and Burton 64 adopted a random vibration
approach to account for the spanwise variation in the
vortex shedding process, their theoretical framework is
based on a representative spanwise correlation and the
flexible cylinder amplitude dependence of the vortex
forces. The basic assumptions of the Blevins and Burton
random vibration model are: firstly, at resonance the
amplitude of the correlated lift force on the flexible
cylinder can be represented as a continuous function of
cylinder amplitude, and secondly, the spanwise correlation of the vortex force can be represented by a
characteristic correlation length which increases
uniformly with cylinder amplitude until twodimensional flow is achieved. Based on these assumptions, a semi-empirical model was developed which is
primarily useful for predicting the vortex lift forces on
a straight cylindrical structure at resonance with vortex
shedding and the maximum response of the structure.
Experimental data of correlation length and lift force as
functions of resonant cylinder amplitude were used to
determine the model parameters. Kim e t a l . t8 have
reported field results for extremely long cables in
sheared'flows. They found the response spectra to be
broadband with no single mode lock-on for large cables.
Patrikalakis and Chryssostomidis65 provide approximate predictions for lift forces of long risers in a sheared
current in terms of independently determined, multimodal, but monochromatic, solutions. In a competitive
approach, Jones 66 developed a superposition procedure
for straight long members using travelling waves rather
than standing waves (modes). Curvature effects were
not considered.

Methodology
Since shedding frequencies are much higher than ocean
wave frequencies, they may be treated independently;
284

Eng. Struct. 1992, Vol. 14, No 5

that is, the transverse strumming motion will be

superimposed on the in-line motion. In this study we
employ a transverse motion model ~4a5 in the equations
of motion of cables in an ocean environment and solve
these equations to predict the responses of the cable. The
finite element method is used to develop the equations of
motion for a long curved cable continuum. If buoys are
attached to the network of cables, equations of rigid
body motion (six degrees of freedom) are embedded in
the finite element model of the cable system.
The cable motions are computed for each time step.
First, the nonlinear in-line motion is computed using an
iterative technique described by Leonard and Tuah 4.
Then, during the step the fluid velocity is assumed to be
constant 55. This temporal constant velocity is used to
compute the transverse motion of the cable by employing a mode superposition technique. The total motion of
the cable is then the superposition of this transverse
motion on the in-line nonlinear motion at a particular
time. Since the ocean wave period is much larger than
the strumming period, the assumption of the temporal
constant velocity during a small incremental step can be
justified.
In this study the model of Griffin e t a l . 15 is employed
and the resonance is assumed to occur such that the
dominant structural response frequency is the structural
natural frequency having a value closest to the shedding
frequency, which is assumed to be constant for steady
flow and variable for unsteady flow.
!
M o d e l f o r cable m o t i o n
The model will involve the nonlinear cable response,
hydrodynamic forces and lift forces on the cable, and
rigid body motion of all buoys due to wave forces. All
of these are interacting and will be presented in a
rigorous form which is derived from the nonlinear continuum mechanics.
Derivation for the cable motion, hydrodynamics, and
force on the cable, large body motion, and wave forces
is given by Leonard and Tuah 4 and only the final
result in the form of a finite element model will be
presented here.
Finite element

model

The two-noded straight element with end nodes 1 and 2

is used here to investigate the cable response to the
hydrodynamic and lift force caused by the ocean waves.
This element is simple to employ and gives good
accuracy especially when the element is made
small 40,61.67.
The shape function is assumed to take the form
~'(~) = 1 - ~
2(~) = ~

(1)
(2)

in which ~j = l / ' L where 'L is the current cable element

length and I is the location of a point in the cable element
measured from node 1. The derivative of the shape functions with respect to the position I are
O~b ~ - b J(~) = - 1 / " L
Ol
-

Ol

0'(~)

1/'L

(3)

(4)

Strumming of nonlinear cable elements: Hang Tuah and J. W. Leonard

The incremental equations of motion for the pseudoHookean material are given by 4

(tA~O[Kt] + IA(~O + ~EXr)[KNL])IAu}

',4'O

Lift forces
Lift force per unit length acting on a nodal point may be
expressed as

[m] [a} + [F} - ~A~o[KL] [~X}

),c

Tuah 6t and Leonard and Tuah 4. Here we will focus on

the lift forces.

(5)

Fu =

where
/,4

cross-section area of cable in initial (unrestrained)

configuration
c0 traction force in current configuration
'E Young's modulus in deformed (current) state
k,,
~A/~A; 'A, cross-sectional area of cable in
deformed state
~p mass density of cable in initial configuration
[ Au ] incremental displacement of cable at nodal points
[a} acceleration of cable at nodal points
[ F} equivalent nodal forces
{'X} current position of nodal points
{KL] linear stiffness matrix due to initial stress

- [I] 3 31

1 [ [I]33
[KL] = c~

- ~ 3

i/]3 ~ ~ ]

(6)

where [l]s 3 is the 3 by 3 identity matrix.

[KNL] is the nonlinear stiffness matrix due to cable
distortions

_
[KNL]

[ [C]33

("L)
~

-[C]33]

-[C]3 x3

'Xilcxj

I -

[~33x3 J

(cxilcxj2 + cxi2%])

-{- cxi2"Xj2

(8)

where superscripts I and 2 refers to nodes 1 and 2,

respectively.
The mass matrix [M] is given by

in which
FL, ith component of lift force
Oi fluid mass density
D diameter of cable
CL periodic lift force coefficient
0h kth direction cosine of cable at nodal point
VNR magnitude of normal relative fluid velocity vector

VNm lth component of I;'NR

E~U permutation symbol: 0, for two indices equal; 1, for
even permutation and - 1 , for odd permutation
The periodic lift coefficient is assumed to be
represented by a wake oscillation model and may be
expressed by ~5
CL +

[Go

[i ]
1 [1133

[1133

(ll)

where dots denote partial derivatives with respect to

time, and
CL0 constant lift force coefficient amplitude for fixed
structure
arL transverse cable velocity magnitude which is
perpendicular to in-line motion of cable
w~ Strouhal (shedding) frequency defined by
2pSTVNR/D

(9)

3 [1133

The global equations for the entire cable-body system

are obtained from the equations of individual elements
(equations (5)-(9)) by an assembly process 68'69.

Exciting forces
Exciting forces in this case are mainly comprised of the
hydrodynamic forces which may be grouped into three
types: drag forces, inertial forces, and lift forces.
The first two forces cause in-line motion of the cables
while lift forces will cause transversal motion of the
cable. The mathematical expressions for drag and lift
forces can be derived from the well known Morison
equation and their incremental forms may be found in

(12)

where Sr is the Strouhal number and O, H, P are

empirical parameters defined by

/-/= ~h

[I] 3
3

2]

(co,COL - o:~flCL) = co,Farz./D

logl0(~ = 0.25-0.21Sc
[M] = "L

(lO)

(7)

with each term of the 3 by 3 matrix [C] 3 3 given by

C~j =

E 2 pfDCLe'kflkVNRVNm
k=l /=1

log~0(hS~) = - 0 . 2 4 + 0.66S~
F = 4GSG/h
= 2 s k,

k, - 4rm~ _ 45(v/w~)O S/D

p:D

(13)
(14)
(15)
(16)
(17)
(18)

in which
m structural mass plus added mass per unit length
u kinematic viscosity of fluid
h dummy variable
damping ratio
For cables the added mass is independent of the
transverse displacement amplitude (up to a vibration
Eng. Struct. 1992, Vol. 14, No 5 285

Strumming of nonlinear cable elements: Hang Tuah and J. W. Leonard

amplitude of a full cable diameter), mode shape, and
wave length but slightly dependent on the Reynolds
number (Ramberg iet al. 70).
The dynamic lift force coefficient in equation (t0) is
computed from equations (11) - (18). The value of CL
is dependent on the motion of the cable through the
Strouhal (shedding) frequency o~ and the cable
transverse velocity.

Mode superposition technique

The uncoupled equation of motion of mode n can be
written for a linearized system at time t a s TM
L + 2 ~ . L + oo2.,Z,,= f.(t)

(19)

Z, time-dependent participation factor for nth mode

~0,, natural frequency of structure
~, damping ratio which is defined by
~. = 12&D

(u/oo.)112

(20)

7rm

i=1
NDOF NDOF

i=1

(2)

(4)
(5)

NDOF

,(t)

(1)

(3)

and the forcing function f,(t) is defined by

relative velocity vector and the cable), the mode shape,

~b,~, and natural frequency, w,, need be evaluated only
once.-For large in-line plane motion 4~,i must be
evaluated at discrete intervals At.
The transverse motion is computed (as mentioned
previously) for each incremental time step, At, assigned
for the computation of large cable in-line motion. During this At time step the cable is assumed to be
motionless on the in-line plane and the fluid velocity is
constant. The cable is moving transversely, i.e., perpendicular to the in-line plane. Since the transverse
motion frequency is much higher than the in-line motion
the time step used for the computation of the transverse
motion is much less than At.
The computational steps which could be employed are
as follows

(21)

(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)

j=l

where
nth mode shape of ith component of global
displacement in equation (5) linearized about
dynamic in-line position at time t
F, ith component of force in linearized global equation
of transverse motion
element mass matrix in linearized global equation
of motion
NDOF number of degrees of freedom
The transverse displacement and velocity may then be
obtained by the following relationship

(10)
(11)

Set the time increment, ~St, which is used in the

strumming analysis, note that At, is the time
increment used in the in-line motion analysis
Determine relative fluid frequency, FuR, and
Strouhal frequency, w~
Form temporal mass matrix, [M], and temporal
stiffness matrix, [K], for time t~
Compute natural frequencies, o~,, and mode
shapes, ~b,i
Compute lift force coefficients using wake
oscillator model (equation (11))
Compute lift forces from equation (10)
Form and solve modal equations (equation (19))
Compute the transverse displacements and
velocities of the nodes
Increment the time t = t~ + 6t in which t~ is the
time that the mass, stiffness, shedding frequency,
and other quantities are evaluated
Repeat steps (5)-(9) when t < t2 (in which t: =
t~ + At); otherwise proceed to the next step
Assign t~ to t2 and repeat steps (2)-(10)

Demonstration problems
Transverse displacement of a horizontal string in a
steady uniform flow
Consider the transverse motion of a straight horizontal
string in a steady uniform flow. The cable and flow properties are tabulated below. A finite model of four equal
size elements was generated and ~St= 0.001 s.

NMOD

ari =

~.~ 4~,iZ,

(22)

n= 1
NMOD

(23)

uT,:
n= I

in which ari is the ith component of transverse

displacement in the global equation and NMOD is the
number of modes.
By assigning the value of the global transverse
velocities, ari's, to the corresponding nodal points, the
nodal velocity of the strumming is determined which can
be used to compute the value of lift force coefficients
using equation (11). The new lift force coefficient is then
used to calculate the new strumming kinematics. For a
relatively small in-line plane motion (plane formed by

286

Eng. Struct. 1992, Vol. 14, No 5

Cable diameter
Cable length
Initial stress
Cable mass density
Young's modulus
Fluid velocity
Fluid mass density
Kinematic viscosity
Stationary lift force coefficient

D = 0.05 ft
L = 14.37 ft
a0 = 33 100 psf
p = 7.78 slugs ft -3
E = 8 113 100psf
V = 0.695 fps
py = 2.0 slugs ft -3
u =0.0000113 ft 2 s -I
0.2

The static displacement of the cable due to the cable

weight and fluid drag force was first computed and used
as the current state. Then the transverse vibration was
computed by the mode superposition technique discussed previously. The Strouhal frequency and the fundamental structural frequency are 15.73 rad s -1 and
14.6 rad s -1, respectively.

Strumming of non/inear cab/e elements: Hang Tuah and J. W. Leonard

0.8

0"61
0.4

TLS' ~

~-I.6'

~o2

o.o V k / V k / V V V V V k /

31.5'

~-0.2
J

-0.4

,/

-0.6
-0.8

[ I l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l I I l l l l l

1.0

2,0
Time (s)

3.0

4.0

Figure 3
view)

Disc buoy supported by three mooring lines (vertical

Figure 1 Lift force coefficient

The lift coefficient, CL, computed by the wake

oscillator model, is shown in Figure 1. The value of CL
is larger than CL0 and its maximum is ,at t = 2.0 s, the
same time at which the transverse displacement is also
maximum. The beat seen in the transverse displacement
shown in Figure 2 occurs because of the lock-in assumption: the structural response frequency is the natural frequency whose value is nearest the shedding frequency.
The maximum displacement obtained in this example
is 0.016 ft which is equal to the experimental value
reported by Ramberg et al. 70.

:500'

t-

~L 7
~110

6
7

j
150'

-I

:59.81 '

5
4

Strumming effect in the three-leg mooring system

The effects of the lift forces on a three-leg single-point
mooring which is subjected to harmonic water waves are
investigated in this example. The descriptions of the
problem are given in Figures 3 and 4. Each leg is
modelled with three straight elements. The initial configuration is an unstretched straight line as shown by the
dashed line in Figure 3. Each leg is made of linearly
elastic cable with the following properties
Initial cable cross section
Young's modulus
Mass density

1.4 = 0.0218 ft 2
E = 8 120 000 psf
p = 3.35 slugs ft -3

59.81'

I0

Figure 4

Disc buoy supported by three mooring lines (plan view)

The static loads on the system are buoyant force and

cable weight and a wind load of 100 lbs acting on the circular disc buoy which has the equivalent mass density of
0.573 slugs ft -3 and the size as shown in Figure 3.
The fluid and wave properties are

4.03.0"

Fluid mass density

Wave height
Wave period

Pl = 2.0 slugs ft -3
H = 10.0 ft
T=3s

1,0;
x

2'0"1

~-1.0

-2.0
- 3
-4.00
Figure 2

0
1.0

~
2.0
Time(s)

3.0

Transverse displacement of cable midpoint

4.0

The static configuration was determined using the

viscous relaxation method 67. The incremental/iterative
method 36 which has been shown to give accurate results
for the nonlinear in-line response ~' was employed to
compute the in-line forces and motions. The time step At
was taken to be 0.005 s. Mode superposition and
Runge-Kutta integration methods with a time increment of dtt = 0.001 s were used to compute the transverse motion due to lift force.
The time history of responses of the disk are shown in
Figure 5 for surge and Figure 6 for heave. The disk

Eng. Struct. 1992, Vol. 14, No 5 2 8 7

Strumming of nonlinear cable elements: Hang Tuah and J. W. Leonard

25 0-

250

~5o--

50-

150 t

5.0

~ / ~

+!

k.

-5.0

d
Slack ,n
El .No.7
-25.0l.,
o

Figure 5

q5.0
-25.0| . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
0
I0
2.0
5.0
40
5.0
Time (s)

+ l l l l l l l l + l ~ ' l ' l + l l l l l l t J l l l l ~ l ~ l + + ~ l l l l l t l l + l l l l l + l l l l + l ~

1.0

2.0

5.0
Time (s)

4.0

5.0

60

Surge versus time of disc supported by three mooring

60

Figure 7 Stress variation in cable element no. 7

lines

50-

1.0

50"

08 t
0.6
0,4

I.O-

02

d
-r-t .0"

Slack in
El No.7

-0.4-

-3o

-0.6-0,8-

-5.0

+ + , ~ + , t l ~ , , + , , l , , l , , l l , l , l l l + ~ l , J , ~ = , l , , + , , l l + , l l + , , , , t , ,

I0

Figure 6

20

ZO
Time (s)

40

5D

-I

60

Heave versus time of disc supported by three mooring

.0

ii

Figure 8

t l l l l l ~ l

i l l l l l

I0

I l l l l l l

2.0

iii

iI

ill

ii

3.0
Time(s)

= l l l = l l l l l l l l l l = l

4.0

ii

50

iii

i [ I

6.0

Time variation for lift force coefficient

lines

moves slowly in the wave direction until the internal

force in the cable balances the external forces. At that
time the disk remains still and then reverses direction
when the wave force reduces. The stiffness in the
opposite direction of the wave propagation is very small,
as can be seen from the time variation of the stress
shown in Figure 7. When the stress in element 7 reduces
drastically, the disk moves as a free body. The heave
motion behaves similarly to the surge motion; sudden
reversal of motions occurs at the same time as the cable
slackens.
Figure 8 shows the time variations of the unsteady lift
force coefficient: the solid line represents the lift coefficient for a stationary structure. The period of oscillation
for the stationary lift force is smaller than the nonstationary lift force. This is because of the tendency of the
nonstationary lift frequency to remain constant when the
Strouhal frequency is in the vicinity of a structural
natural frequency.
The disk response due to the transverse force is predominantly sway motion and is shown in Figure 9. Since
the strumming frequency is much higher than the wave
frequency, the response shows a long period (slowly
varying) motion which can be identified with the wave

288

Eng. Struct. 1992, Vol. 14, No 5

5.0-

:5.0
o 1.0
x

-I .003

-5.0

-5.0
o ........

.......

.......

.......

......

.......

6 0

Time (s)

Figure 9

Sway motion of disc supported by three mooring lines

due to lift force

frequency and a short period motion which is shown by

a high frequency fluctuation about the long period
motion. Again, the low frequency sway motion changes
its direction suddenly as the cable slackens.

Strumming of nonlinear cable elements: Hang Tuah and J. W. Leonard

Conclusions
A finite element model with straight elements and an
incremental/iterative method to solve the nonlinear cable
equation of in-line motion due to wave loading have
given satisfactory results when applied to the threedimensional response of curved three-leg cable moorings.
The effects of strumming on the cable responses are
incorporated in the model by employing a wake
oscillator model. With the assumption of constant
relative fluid velocity in the interval of a time step used
for calculating the in-line response, a mode superposition technique can be used to predict the transverse
strumming motion. These strumming effects can be seen
in the sway motion of the buoy in which the high frequency fluctuation of the sway motion is superimposed
on the lower frequency motion of the cable. The motion
becomes noticeable when the cable experiences high
tension. High tension will increase the stiffness of the
cable and, hence, the natural frequency; which then
approaches the shedding frequency such that a lock-in
condition takes place.
Acknowledgment
This paper is based on work supported by the USN
Office of Naval Research under the University Research
Initiative (URI) Contract N00014-86-K-0687.

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