Forced Motions of a Cable Suspended from a Floating Structure

Recent and proposed applications for power cables in the ocean require that the cable be suspended from floating structures which move due to the wave action. Tension changes in the cable due to these motions may be a substantial percentage of the static tension under some conditions. Limiting values of the tension are necessary for proper design of cable strength members to withstand simultaneous flexing and tensioning. A method is described for calculating these tensions. In-plane and out-of-plane motions of the cable are analyzed separately. The basic equations of motion of the cable are developed and lowest-mode solutions are derived.