Three-dimensional dynamic behavior of the flexible umbilical cable system

We extend an idea of the modeling flexible umbilical cable using a nonlinear finite element method to three-dimensional space. The umbilical cable is assembled by Reissner's geometrically exact beam elements, which take account of the geometric nonlinearities of large rotation and displacement, and effects of axial load, transverse shear, torsion and bending stiffness for modeling of slack cables. The resulting semi-discrete motion equations are solved by the Newmark method. Finally, an example about the three-dimensional dynamic behavior of the umbilical cable system in depth-dependent ocean current with ship motion is presented. © (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland