Modelling of Viscoelastic Dynamic

Bending Stiffness for VIV Analysis

of Submarine Cables
Authors:
Johan Hedlund, ( ABB HVC Karlskrona Sweden*)

Abstract:

be a pockmark, boulder, anchor scar, cliff, scour, and

etcetera. The normal approach to avoid free spans is to
change the route to circumvent the location with too
uneven seabed, but sometimes that is not possible or
the free span may occur after the cable has been laid
and even trenched.

During cable installation, free spans can occur in areas

with uneven seabed. In combination with current and
waves there is a risk that Vortex Induced Vibrations
(VIV) are introduced in the cable span. VIV can cause
wear and fatigue on the cables weak components such
as the lead sheath. This paper proposes a method to
assess VIV that utilises the cables hysteretic behaviour
with high damping. A numerical model for calculation
of the dynamic bending stiffness of a submarine cable
with bitumen coated armour wires is also presented.

The hazards that comes with a cable free span is mainly

impact with fishing equipment or vibrations that
occur due to the flowing fluid around the cable which
creates vortices which in turn can induce vibrations.
The vibrations may lead to fatigue and wear on cable
components. The flowing fluid around the cable can
be induced by both ocean current and waves, this
phenomena is called Vortex Induced Vibrations, VIV.

Nomenclature:

1.1. Predicting VIV

There is no standard or recommendation for predicting
VIV in power cables. There are industry accepted
standards to assess VIV in pipelines such as DNV RP
F105 [1]. Methodologies to assess the resulting fatigue
damage in umbilicals and flexible pipes have been
described in [2] and [3] with the verifying testing
described in [4]. There is also a range of purpose built
software for VIV assessment which reduce the level of
conservatism such as, VIVANA, Shear7 and OrcaFlex
for example. These software can account for the stickslip behaviour of the helical layers of armour wires.

VIV: Vortex Induced Vibrations

DNV: Det Norske Veritas
RP: Recommended Practice

Critical parameters to evaluate the risk for onset of VIV

are the bending stiffness and the structural damping
of the object. The Eigen frequency is proportional to
the square root of the bending stiffness and a higher
Eigen frequency results in longer allowed free spans
and higher water velocities. These parameters are easily
determined for a steel pipe with a linear bend stiffness.
For a power cable this becomes even more complex
due to the bitumen covering the helically laid armour

1. Introduction
Free spans is a phenomena that can occur for power
cables, umbilicals and pipelines. It can happen along
the cable route if the seabed is so uneven that the cable
cannot adapt to it, as shown in Pic. 1. Free spans can
also occur if the cable exits a J-tube bell mouth above
the seafloor. The reason for the uneven seabed can
*Johan.1.hedlund@se.abb.com

KEYWORDS
Bending Stiffness, Free span, Structural damping, Vortex Induced Vibrations

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Pic. 1: Model over free span due to cliff.

numerical model is developed to calculate the build-up

of stress in the armour wires resulting from the shear
deformation in the bitumen layer during cable bending.
The resulting stress distribution is used to calculate the
bending moment required to bend the cable.

wires. The bitumen layer will have a large impact on the

bending stiffness, the Eigen frequency and the allowed
free span length of a submarine cables.
A typical three core double armoured cable with copper
conductor, XLPE insulation, lead sheath, filler profiles
and two steel wire armour layers with bedding is shown
in the picture below:

The temperature varying viscoelastic parameters of

bitumen have been determined from small scale testing,
in reference [5].
The calculated relationship between bend moment
and curvature is used to investigate the dynamic cable
bending stiffness during conditions representative for
VIV on how this affects the risk for onset of VIV. The
established bend moment curvature relationships are
also used to determine the viscoelastic damping of the
cables armour layer which is the major contribution to
the total structural damping.

2. Methodology
A power cable usually consists of 1 or 2 layers of helically
wound armour wires. For umbilicals and flexible pipes
without bitumen covered armour the methodology,
described in [3], is well established for determining the
stresses and strains in the armour wires when subjected
to tension and bending. That model uses coulomb
friction along with the contact pressure between the
wire and surrounding materials and this results in
that the wire either is stuck or slides, this is called
stick-slip. The helical geometry is the same for cables
as for umbilicals and flexible pipes and is very well
described in [6]. The same methodology is applicable
for submarine cables with some modifications and will
be used to calculate the dynamic bending moment.

Pic. 2: Typical cross-section for double armoured submarine cable.

Bitumen, which is used as part of the corrosion

protection system of the armour wires, is a viscoelastic
material where the mechanical properties vary with
temperature and strain velocity. The bending stiffness
and structural damping of a submarine cable with
bitumen covered armour wires will therefore depend
on temperature, bending amplitude and bending speed.

2.1. Helical Geometry

This paper studies the effects of bitumen on the

bending stiffness of submarine cables and how the
stiffness varies with bending speed and temperature. A

The helical geometry used to calculate the wire

displacement is mathematically described in reference

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Fig. 1: Helical geometry.

[6], below a simplification of the wire displacement in

a Cartesian coordinate system along with explanatory
Figure 1:

How the wire displacement is affected by bending if the

wire sticks to the toroid can be simplified by introducing
the following expressions and replacing c with s, which
is the distance along the wire path:

(1)

(5)

The relationship between the cables radius, pitch angle

and lay length is described by the following triangular
relationship described in Rn and gives

When the cable is bent the helix around a cylinder is

transformed into a helix around a toroid and an under
length of wire is created on the outside of the bend and
an over length created on the inside of the bend this is
explained by the relationships below:

(6)

(2)

Which results in that the wire displacement, up, can

be simplified to just depend on the radius, pitch angle,
cable curvature and the distance along the deformed
helix:

From (2) the length of the deformed helix is achieved by

some manipulation where the ratio R/ << 1 is assumed:

(7)

(3)

(8)

Where:
(4)

Fig. 2: Relationship between radius, pitch angle and lay length.

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The result is an expression for wire displacement as a

function of the armour design and curvature is obtained
when the wire sticks to the toroid underneath it. The
corresponding strain is found as the derivative of (8)
which can be used to calculate the stick strain and the
bending moment during the stick phase.

The model proposed in [6] defines the wire tension, Tw

as below:

2.2. Viscoelastic Model

With the expression from [5] replacing the elastic

model described in (9), in order to adapt the model for
submarine cables with bitumen coated armour wires,
the wire tension, can be expressed as:

(12)

Reference [5] investigated the bitumen shear mechanics

in a dynamic subsea power cable by performing pull
out tests from a cable sample at various temperatures
and speed in order to characterize the shear force that
is generated by the bitumen layer when the armour wire
slides in relation to its neighbouring layers. The work
comprising 29 different pull out tests and 3 cyclic pull
out tests resulted in an expression for the shear force,
in bitumen as a function of velocity and temperature,
the result is described by (9).

(13)

The total expression results in:

(14)

(9)
(15)
This is a differential equation with a diffusion term,
a transient term with an exponent and a source term
which can be solved numerically for us. A numerical
solver based on [7] was used. With the solution for us
the strain reduction in the wire along the arc due to
axial sliding can be established. By adding the constant
bending component and the component from the
axial sliding the strain, , from bending motions is
established.

This gives a viscous force equilibrium that differs

compared to the force equilibrium described in reference
[6] that assumes an elastic relationship between shear
force and wire displacement. The force equilibrium is
used to calculate the total wire displacement u that is
a function of how the cable moves around the toroid
when being bent. The total displacement consists of
two components, curvature, uk and sliding, us:

(16)

(10)

When the relationship between tensile stress in the

armour wire as a function of time dependent curvature
and temperature for a specific cross-section has been
established, all parameters required to calculate the
dynamic bending moment are known.

The tension in the wire is proportional to the strain in

the wire:
(11)

The distance from the centre of the cable to the armour

wire, in the plane the cable is bent with the stress in

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Fig. 3: Bending moment hysteresis loop.

Figure 3 displays a clear hysteretic behaviour which is the

result from the armour wires sliding in the viscoelastic
bitumen but also an elastic component which comes
from the strain in the armour wire and the elastic
stiffness of the other cable components. The dynamic
bending stiffness can be expressed as a simplified linear
stiffness by performing a linear estimation between the
maximum and minimum response which is the green
line in figure 3. For the cable used in this example the
dynamic bending stiffness, is EIDynamic is 2580 kNm2 which
ca be compared to the static bending stiffness, EIStatic that
is 10 kNm2. Bitumen will thus have a significant effect on
the dynamic bending stiffness of the cable and it differs
a factor of 258 between static and dynamic bending
stiffness for this case.

the wire along the arc, creates a bending moment. By

integrating that bending moment along the wire for
all wires in all armour layers and adding the bending
moment, EImin, from the other cable components, such
as conductor, the total bending moment, the cable
experiences can be expressed as:
(17)

3. Results
The dynamic bending moment is a function of how
curvature varies with time. For VIV the curvature
along the arc is a function of the dynamic mode shape
displacement that is expressed by:

3.2. Structural Damping

When a linear dynamic bending stiffness is used a
damping coefficient is needed in order to take the
energy loss in each cycle into account in [1]. That can
be achieved by studying the hysteresis loop.

(18)

For a purely elastic material; stress and strain are always

in phase, where the stress is a linear function of strain.
In a viscoelastic material the stress is also a function of
the strain change rate resulting in that stress and strain
are not in phase. For example, there can still be stress
in a viscoelastic material when the strain is zero and
vice versa; the stress can be zero even though there is a
strain in the material.

The curvature can be approximated as equal to the

second derivative of the displacement:
(19)

A viscoelastic material deviates from perfect elasticity

because a component of stress lags strain. The difference
is called phase angle. The relationship between the
difference in phase angle between curvature and
moment is the measure for damping in a viscoelastic
material. In this case the cable is treated like a Maxwell
material where curvature corresponds to strain and
bending moment is proportional to the stress.

3.1. Dynamic Bending Stiffness

By using (19) as input for the curvature in (17) the
bending moment response as displayed in the figure
below is achieved for a typical amplitude response with
a curvature of 0.001 and a typical double armoured
cable in 7 degrees water:

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Fig. 4: Bending moment hysteresis loop..

In the graph below the bending moment and curvature

are plotted as a function of time. The lag between moment
and curvature is used to predict the viscoelastic damping,
the phase angle has also been shown in the figure:

materials and the more complex behaviour with helical

wires coated in bitumen. With the expression in (17) a
linear bending stiffness is calculated for a given mode
shape and by determining the phase difference between
curvature and moment the critical damping ratio is
determined. Both parameters are required to determine
the amplitude response for a steel pipeline and the main
differences between cables and pipes.

Figure 4 clearly shows that the proposed model predicts

a viscoelastic behaviour of the cable since there is
a phase lag between curvature and moment. In the
case of a cable; strain corresponds to cable curvature
and stress corresponds to cable bending moment. The
relationship between viscoelastic damping and other
forms of damping is described below according to [8]:

The amplitude response in [1] depends on various

environmental parameters and a couple of parameters
from the cable. Two of the cable parameters are the Eigen
frequency and the damping ratio. The Eigen frequency,
n is proportional to the square root of the dynamic
bending stiffness and is used to determine the reduced
velocity, VR which is given by the expression below:

(20)
From figure 4 the damping is established in terms of
critical damping for a given mode shade, amplitude
response and frequency.

(21)
(22)

4. Analysis
The response amplitude for VIV is essential for
calculating stresses and fatigue loading. The amplitude
response is a result of the flow regime around the cable
and the structural damping. The bending stiffness of
the cable governs when onset of VIV occurs and which
vibration frequency that is induced.

The reduced velocity is used in section 4.4.4 in [1] to

calculate the amplitude of the vibrations, a reduced
velocity below 2 means no risk for cross-flow VIV. The
amplitude is then adjusted with a reduction factor, Rk
for damping that is expressed below:

VIV in power cables is not covered in any standard

such as [1]. The phenomena has been investigated in
[9] and a model for estimation of onset VIV is proposed
but it requires the dynamic bending stiffness and gives
no method for calculation of the amplitude response.
In order to assess VIV for power cables could one
approach be to use [1] but then it needs to be adapted
to the cable behaviour.

(23)
(24)

Cables are in many ways very different from pipelines

due to for example: the high specific gravity, the softer

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Fig. 5: Damping ratio versus amplitude response.

Fig. 6: Dynamic bending stiffness versus amplitude response.

damping which reduces the amplitude response but

a lower dynamic bending stiffness results in a higher
reduced velocity, in this case the increase in damping
is dominating over the decrease in reduced velocity.
Frequency dependency is something that characterize
viscoelastic behaviour and submarine cables.

By assuming a current dominated case for the first

mode shape an amplitude response of is achieved. The
reduction factor can be calculated as a function of the
damping ration and the resulting amplitude response as a
function of damping is displayed in Figure 5 below:
Displayed in figure 5 is also the damping ratio as a
function of amplitude response for mode shape 1, 2 and 3
calculated with the viscoelastic model accounting for the
damping induced by the bitumen layer. The cable used for
the calculation in figure 5 was a double armoured cable
and a span length of 25 meters was assumed. A shorter
span length has the same effect as a higher mode number
with larger curvature causing a higher damping ratio. The
damping ratio of mode 2 is equivalent for a meter long
free span. The thicker lines are the amplitude response as
a function of damping for the first mode shape in red and
all other mode shapes in green.

5. Discussion
Cables are in general known to be very resilient against
fatigue and few cases are known where VIV has been an
issue. This might be due to the fact that submarine cables
are very flexible and easily adapts to the seabed compared
to pipelines. The high damping and viscoelastic behaviour
of the dynamic bending stiffness also contributes to
preventing the onset of vortex induced vibrations.
However, if free spans occurs there are at the moment
no best practice for assessing the risk for VIV and
the resulting effects for submarine cables. This article
proposes a method to adapt the cables behaviour to
a well-established standard for steel pipelines. The
standard, [1] takes several environmental parameters into
consideration such as current statistics, current profile,
wave statistics, wave spectrum, directionality, turbulence,
seabed profile, and soil data. This makes it applicable in
all kinds of conditions such as current dominated, wave
dominated, both shallow and deep water, and for a wide
range of soil conditions.

The proposed model for the dynamic bending moment

is used to investigate how the dynamic bending stiffness
will vary with different mode shapes and amplitude
responses.
Figure 6 shows that the dynamic bending stiffness
decreases with increased response amplitude. For higher
mode shapes the decrease in dynamic bending stiffness
is more rapid than for lower. This has to be considered in
combination with the results in figure 5. The decrease in
dynamic bending stiffness will stop when the damping
curve between the amplitude response in [1] intersect
with the increased damping as a function of amplitude
response for the cable, as displayed in figure 5. By
comparing figure 5 and 6 it can be concluded how much
the dynamic bending stiffness will decrease when the
vibrations starts, and in this case it is no more than 5 %.

Limited testing has been performed within the area but in

[9] a full scale test has been performed and the vibration
amplitude was found to be 0,4 (A/D) for the first mode
shape, which indicates a very high damping level. The
cable in the test was a double armoured mass impregnated
cable with a lead sheath. The difference in static and
dynamic bending stiffness was also observed with a
static bending stiffness estimated to 5-15 kNm2 for single
armoured cables and the dynamic bending stiffness in the
range of 70-90 kNm2. That observation also indicates a
highly viscoelastic behaviour of the submarine cable.

Figure 7 shows that low frequencies has an insignificant

impact on the dynamic bending stiffness; the change
in dynamic bending stiffness is about 2 % between 0.5
Hz and 2 Hz. Lower frequency results in an increased

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Fig. 7: Frequency dependency for damping and dynamic bending stiffness

5.1. Application in DNV-RP-F105

colleagues and especially Andreas Tyrberg in order to be

able to develop and discuss these models.

When predicting VIV for power cables the cables dynamic

bending stiffness and damping ratio shall be utilised either
with the full hysteresis loop for a given mode shape in a
purpose built software or with the methodology described
in [1]. When using [1] the following approach can be
utilised in order to take the cables viscoelastic behaviour
into account:

7. References
[1] DNV Recommended Practice RP-F105 Free Spanning Pipelines,
2006, Det Norske Veritas
[2] N. Sdahl, O. Steinkjer, E. Gjlmesli and K. Hansen-Zahl, 2011,
Consistent VIV Fatigue Analysis Methodology of Umbilicals,
Proceedings of the 30th International Conference on Ocean and
Arctic Engineering, OMAE2011-49459
[3] G. Skeie, N. Sdahl and O. Steinkjer, 2012, Efficient Fatigue Analysis
of Helix Elements in Umbilicals and Flexible Risers: Theory and
Applications Journal of Applied Mathematics, Vol. 2012, 246812
[4] L. Halvor, H. Braaten, T. Kristianssen and F.G. Nielsen, 2007,
Free-pan VIV Testing Of Full-Scale Umbilical, Proceedings of
the Seventeenth International Offshore and Polar Engineering
Conference.
[5] J. Mullins, D. Morin, A. Tyrberg, C. Sonesson and J. Ekh, 2015,
Bitumen shear mechanics in a dynamic subsea electrical cable,
Proceedings of the 34th International Conference on Ocean and
Arctic Engineering, OMAE2015-41110
[6] M. Lutchansky, 1969, Axial stress in armour wires of bent submarine
cables, Journal of Engineering Industry. 91(3) 687-693.
[7] J.E. Guyer, D. Wheeler and J. A. Warren, 2009, Fipy: Partial
Differential Equations with Python, Computing in Science &
Engineering. 11(3) 6-15
[8] R.D. Blevins, 1994, Flow Induced Vibrations, Krieger Publishing Co.,
Florida, USA, 336-337
[9] G.E. Balog, K. Bjrlow-Larsen, A. Ericsson and B. Dellby, 2006,
Vortex Induced Vibration on Submarine Cables, Cigr Session 2006

Calculate the dynamic bending stiffness for a small

curvature and low frequency and then multiply with 0.9
in order to account for the 2% in frequency dependency
and 5% in amplitude dependency. This approach is to be
considered as conservative since a lower dynamic bending
stiffness creates a lower Eigen frequency and a higher
reduced velocity.
The obtained reduced velocity is then used to calculate the
corresponding response amplitude without reduction for
damping.
The damping is later obtained in the intersection between
the damping as a function of amplitude response for the
cable and the amplitude response as a function of the
damping ratio with the given reduced velocity according
to reference [8]. This results in the damping ratio for
where the vibration is in equilibrium with the damping.
An example of this is displayed in figure 5.
For calculation of the sagging term in reference [8] the static
bending stiffness shall be used in order to accommodate
for the sagging over time.
By following this methodology the cables viscoelastic
behaviour is taken into account when both the vibration
amplitude and the vibration frequency is calculated. This
drastically increase the Eigen frequency in the example given
it increases a factor of 16 which results that a 16 times higher
water current can be allowed for the same span length.

8. Biographies
Johan Hedlund was born on 16 April 1987 in Karlskrona
Sweden. He graduated from the faculty of engineering at
Lund University with a master of science in 2012 and took
up a position in engineering at ABB High Voltage Cables
after that.

6. Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank for all the support from

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