Research Article

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

2017, Vol. 9(7) 1–13
Ó The Author(s) 2017
Lateral stiffness and deflection DOI: 10.1177/1687814017711079
journals.sagepub.com/home/ade
characteristics of guide cable with
multi-boundary constraints

Lu Yan1,2, Guohua Cao1,2, Naige Wang1,2 and Jishun Li3

Abstract
Since lateral stiffness of existing wire ropes used as guide cables is difficult to achieve reliable guidance for conveyances
in deep shaft wall, deflection-suppressed system is designed to reduce lateral displacement and enhance stiffness of guide
cables. Theoretical method about cable stiffness is offered with multi-boundary constraints and validated by finite ele-
ment method. With application analysis, the results show the lateral displacement and stiffness regulation under different
boundary conditions. When guide cable tensions increase, the minimum lateral stiffness increases rapidly and later tends
to vary linearly with two boundaries constrained, and its situation gradually moves to the middle. Besides, the increased
boundaries lead to an increase in the minimum lateral stiffness by a certain linear ratio and the move of its position to
the middle on the cable. The required minimum tensions at different boundaries are accordingly obtained. When the
guide cables are arranged in different directions of the conveyance, their stiffness characteristics are revealed. Therefore,
the arrangement of the two guide cables is proposed under multi-boundary constraints. The above study can be useful
for reducing the conveyance deflection in cable-guided system and provide reference when selecting guide cable with
multi-boundary constraints.

Keywords
Guide cable, multi-boundary constraints, top tension, displacement, stiffness

Date received: 5 August 2016; accepted: 23 April 2017

Academic Editor: David R Salgado

Introduction load generated by the conveyance or other forces, lat-

Cables are used in many areas, such as elevator hoist,
heavy transportation, and mine hoist. Many of them
are utilized for hoisting cables, while cables in mine
shaft are also used for the guidance of hoisting con-
veyances, such as ultra-deep mine shaft construction
and established deep shaft towers, because rope guides
have remarkable advantages than steel guides in eco-
nomic benefits for long distance transport.1 In hoisting
system of constructing shaft, cables lifting suspended
platform are also used as guide cable for bucket, and
the cable length varies when the bucket position
changes. In established deep shaft, the both ends of
guide cables are fixed. When the conveyance travels
along the guide cables, the guide cables receive impact
eral wind, for instance. Therefore, the lateral stiffness
characteristics of guide cable are significant in enhan-
cing the stability of conveyance when it moves up and
down. Greenway and colleagues2,3 studied the
1
School of Mechatronic Engineering, China University of Mining and
Technology, Xuzhou, China
2
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Mine Mechanical and Electrical Equipment,
China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, China
3
State Key Laboratory of Heavy Mining Equipment, Henan University of
Science and Technology, Luoyang, China
Corresponding author:
Guohua Cao, School of Mechatronic Engineering, China University of
Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China.
Email: caoguohua@cumt.edu.cn

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2 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
relationships directly between guide rope lateral stiff-
ness and flexibility by theoretical models under Coriolis
force with both ends of guide cable fixed, but did not
consider bending stiffness. Jian et al.4 calculate rope
stiffness according to force balance principle and made
comparative analysis with the stiffness equation in the
work by Greenway.2 Wang et al.5 regarded the middle
of guide cable as the point of minimum stiffness and
tested the stiffness at this point through a testing
device. But this approximate method is not accurate to
obtain the minimum stiffness. Some researchers6–8
studied the dynamic lateral deflection of hoisting cable
and conveyance and showed the deflections of guide
cable indirectly. Wu et al.9 simulated the lateral deflec-
tions of conveyances when two conveyances passed
each other. Although the conveyance deflection in
above studies can reflect the characteristics of guide
cables in some degree, most research on lateral deflec-
tion of conveyance or guide cable are limited to two
boundaries of guide cable. Moreover, the bending stiff-
ness is ignored in most research, while it was considered
by Zhu and Xu10 in elevator system with lower hoisting
height, which cannot reflect the condition in mine
hoist. The deflection suppression method is not pro-
posed when the tensions of guide cables are insufficient
to restrict the lateral deflection of conveyance in extra-
deep shaft. Therefore, deflection inhibition mechan-
ism11 is proposed to make conveyances travel smoothly
along the long guide cables. However, when deflection
suppression systems are used to restrict the deflection
of the guide cable, there are many increased and com-
plicated boundaries. It is necessary to investigate the
stiffness and deflection characteristics of guide cables
under multi-boundary constraints.
In this article, the structure of deflection suppression
system is described first. The differential equation in
lateral direction is established by analyzing the simpli-
fied geometric model and mechanical model of guide
cable. Second, the stiffness and defection characteristics
of guide cable are analyzed under different influence
factor conditions. Third, finite element method (FEM)
is introduced to validate the theoretical model. Finally,
by application analysis, the effects of bending stiffness
of guide cable, top tension, boundaries, and cable
arrangements are performed on the characteristics of
guide cables. Guide cables and boundaries can be
arranged or designed reasonably according to the
conclusions.
Deflection suppression system design and
mathematical model
Introduction of deflection suppression system
Deflection suppression system consists of two symme-
trical four-bar mechanisms and one electromagnet
system. They are connected by three cables, and the
four-bar mechanisms can realize the synchronous
motion through the operation of electromagnet system
controlled by control system. Installation diagram of
the whole system is shown in Figure 1(a). And the
operating schematic of the system is shown in
Figure 1(b). Electromagnet attracts the screw nut
tightly when it is electrified. If the motor drives the ball
screw, the nut moves synchronously with the electro-
magnet and two four-bar mechanisms, which are pulled
by two pull cables, and a connecting cable moves from
one position to another position. The schematic dia-
gram of four-bar mechanism is shown in Figure 1(c).
The four-bar mechanism has two position states and it
can offer sufficient constant lateral force, which can
restrict the lateral disturbance by conveyance. Pull
cable and the connecting cable are connected to the bar
with a U-shaped clamp.
Theoretical lateral stiffness model of guide cable
Guide cable is arranged in vertical direction with the
cable tensioned. When the guide cables are long
enough, the distance DL between two clamps in
Figure 1(a) and (b) can be ignored. Meanwhile, the
four-bar mechanism in deflection suppression system
offers enough lateral force so that the mechanism
restriction can be regarded as fixed constraints when
the cable produces thrust to the clamp.
Accordingly, the geometric model of the rope-guided
system under the multiple boundary conditions is
shown in Figure 2(a), and the corresponding mechani-
cal model is shown in Figure 2(b), where the coordinate
origin O is set at the top of the tensioning device, L is
the total length of the guide cable, x is the distance
from the coordinate origin on the rope, D(x) is the
external force on the cable, namely, the resultant force
of uniformly distributed load and concentrated load,
T0 is the top tension of the rope, t is the time, M(x, t) is
the bending moment applied to the rope, Q(x, t) is the
shear force, w(x) is the lateral displacement at the point
x, u(x) is the included angle between the vertical direc-
tion and the rope at the point x, and r is the density of
the guide cable.
In Figure 2(b), the micro unit ‘‘dx’’ is taken for anal-
ysis from the guide cable at the position where the dis-
tance is x from the top. The quality of this infinitesimal
unit is denoted as r dx. Therefore, balanced equation in
the lateral direction is expressed as
 (Q + dQ) + Q  ðT0  rgxÞ sin u
 
∂u
+ ½T0  rg(x + dx) sin u + dx + D(x)dx = 0
∂x
ð1Þ
Yan et al. 3

Figure 1. Structure of deflection suppression system with cable-guided system: (a) installation diagram of deflection suppression
system, (b) operating schematic of the system, and (c) schematic diagram of four-bar mechanism.

where u = ∂w=∂x. If the distance between the upper and the lower
Force–torque equation of the micro unit around z- boundaries is far, the stiffness of the guide cable can be
axis can be derived as ignored. And the lateral balanced equation can be sim-
plified in equation (4)
dx
(M + dM)  M  (Q + dQ)dx + D(x)dx =0 ð2Þ
2 ∂2 w rg ∂w D(x)
+ = ð4Þ
∂x2 T0  rgx ∂x T0  rgx
where dQ = (∂Q=∂x)dx and dM = (∂M=∂x)dx.
If high-order items are omitted, equation (2) can be Equation (4) is a second-order differential equation
formulated as k(x) = 1=w(x). Since the length of the with variable coefficients in accordance with that in the
guide cable is far longer than the diameter, according work by Greenway.2 The corresponding general solu-
to the elongated beam bending theory, that is, Euler– tion is
Bernoulli theory, the relationship between bending
2 3
moment M and the deflection w can be expressed as ðx Ð rg dx ðx Ðx rg
x

D(x) T rgxdx
M(x, t) = EI(∂2 w=∂x2 ). w(x) = e 0
T0 rgx
4 e0
0
dx + C1 5dx + C2
Accordingly, equation (1) can be derived as T0  rgx
0 0

∂4 w ∂2 w ∂w ð5Þ
EI 4
 ðT0  rgxÞ 2 + rg = D(x) ð3Þ
∂x ∂x ∂x
4 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Theoretical stiffness and deflection attention. The analytical expression for conveyance
characteristics about lateral deflection is obtained as equation (8)
   
Two-boundary constraints T0
 ln T0 rgx
f ln T0 rgx T0 rgL
With two ends of guide cable restricted, the conveyance w(x) =    ð8Þ
rg T0
ln T0 rgL
is applied with a Coriolis force, that is, f  d(x  x1 ). x1
is the distance from conveyance to the top constraint.
d(x  x1 ) is a Dirac function. Then, the load D(x) Its stiffness can be denoted as
applied to conveyance can be expressed as
f
k(x) = ð9Þ
D(x) = f  d(x  x1 ) ð6Þ w(x)

where f is the load coefficient. According to boundary

conditions of two fixed ends, that is, w(0) = 0 and Multi-boundary constraints
w(L) = 0, equation (5) is derived as When deflection suppression system is installed, multi-
  ple boundaries on guide cables are produced. The num-
T0 rgx1   ðx bers of boundaries on two guide cables are related to
f ln T0 rgL T0 f  ed (x  x1 )
w(x) =     ln + dx the arrangements of two guide cables. When the con-
rg ln T0 T0  rgx T0  rgx
T0 rgL 0 veyance moves upward, it will get Coriolis force in east
ð7Þ direction. When the conveyance moves downward, it
Ðx will get Coriolis force in west direction. If the guide
where ed (x  x1 ) = 0 d(x  x1 )dx. cables and deflection suppression systems are arranged
Because the stiffness characteristics of guide cable at at the north and south sides of hoisting conveyance (N-
conveyance position deserve concerns, x = x1 deserves S arrangement) as shown in Figure 3(a), the forces of

Figure 2. Models of cable-guided system: (a) geometric model and (b) mechanical model.
Yan et al. 5

Figure 3. Arrangements of guide cable: (a) N-S arrangement, (b) W-E arrangement, and (c) constrained cable model.


the two cables are the same. Otherwise, if they are wi ðLi1 Þ = 0
arranged at the west and east sides of the hoisting con- wi ðLi Þ = 0
veyance (W-E arrangement) as shown in Figure 3(b),
the forces exerted on two cables are not the same due When the position of hoisting conveyance is outside
to the detachment from west clamp when conveyance the distance range of Li 2 1–Li, namely, x1  Li or
moves up or the detachment from east clamp when x1  Li 2 1, lateral load on cable generated by hoisting
conveyance moves down. However, there are no effects conveyance can be ignored within the range of Li 2 1–
on cable deflection and stiffness characteristics without Li, namely, D(x) = 0. Similarly, when the position of
using deflection suppression systems. Hence, the effec- hoisting conveyance is within the distance range of
Li 2 1–Li, namely, Li 2 1 \ x1 \ Li, lateral load on cable
tive model for N-S arrangement (Left) and W-E
generated by hoisting conveyance within the range of
arrangement (Right) in Figure 3(c) demonstrates the
Li 2 1–Li can be expressed as D(x) = f  d(x  x1 ).
effective cable length of two guide cables with restraints
According to the boundary conditions, deflection func-
to conveyance at multiple boundaries.
tion at N-S arrangement can be formulated as
Assume that the constraints of clamps to guide
cables are fixed; cable represented with dotted lines can T0  rgx1
be ignored in calculating process. ln
f T0  rgLi T0  rgLi1
The number of installed deflection suppression sys- wi (x) =  ln
rg T0  rgLi1 T0  rgx
tems is set to n; thus, the guide cables are divided into ln
T0  rgLi ð11Þ
n + 1 segments evenly. As shown in Figure 2(b), the
ðx
top tension position of guide cable is set at starting f  eðx  x1 Þ
point. As shown in Figure 2(a), the distance between + dx
T0  rgx
the ith deflection suppression system and the top ten- Li1
sion position of guide cable is set to Li. The distance of
In this case, the lateral deflection is related to the ver-
starting point is L0 = 0. And the distance of bottom
tical distance of conveyance and the force value gener-
position on the cable is Ln + 1 = L.
ated by conveyance on the cable.
It can be seen from Figure 3(a) and (c) in terms of
Since the significance to find out the deflection of
one cable that when deflection suppression mechanisms
cable lies in enhancing the stability of conveyance, the
are used, lateral load exerted by hoisting conveyance
conveyance position along the cable attracts more con-
only has an influence on the segment between two adja-
cerns, that is, x = x1 is the key point. When this expres-
cent deflection suppression systems. According to equa- sion x = x1 is substituted into equation (11), the
tion (5), the deflection function of guide cables with N- formulation is
S arrangement is obtained as
Ðx 2 Ðx 3
ðx rg
T0 rgxdx
ðx rg
T0 rgxdx
6 D(x) Li1 7
wi (x) = eLi1 4 e dx + C1i5dx + C2i ðLi1 \x  Li Þ ð10Þ
T0  rgx
Li1 Li1

8  
> 1  z i ai
where i = 1, 2, 3, ., n. And n boundary conditions can < ln lnð1zi ai Þ
wi (zi ) = f 1  ai ð12Þ
be denoted as  0  zi  1
: rg
> lnð1  ai Þ
0 zi . 1 or zi \0
6 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

where i = 1, 2, 3, ., n + 1, zi = (x  Li1 )=(Li  Li1 ), divided into n + 1 restricted segments, in each of

Li 2 1  x  Li 2 1 which the cable is discretized into N0 bar elements with
two nodes. The length of each bar element is
rgðLi  Li1 Þ DLi = (Li 2 Li21)/N0 (i = 1, 2, ., n + 1) in the ith
ai = ð13Þ
T0  rgLi1 restricted segment with DL0 = 0 and L0 = 0. In the ith
restricted segment, the lateral deflections of two nodes
that is, zi is the ratio of the distance from conveyance
on the jth bar element are wi,j 2 1 and wi,j. Meanwhile,
position to upper constrained point on cable and the
their corresponding type function is Nij = [1 2 z(x)/
length of constrained cable segment where the convey-
DLiz(x)/DLi]T,12,13 where z(x) = x 2 (i 2 1)L/
ance runs. And ai is the ratio of the quality of con-
(n + 1) 2 (j 2 1)DLi, is force position relative to the jth
strained cable segment where the conveyance runs and
element length in the ith segment. Tensile strain is writ-
the tension of the upper constrained point.
ten as e = 0.5 w2ij,x.14 The deflection of the jth bar ele-
According to equation (12), the position of minimum
ment is wij(x) = Nij qij, thus ei = 0:5qTij NTij, x Nij, x qij ,
stiffness on the whole cable is obtained as
where the subscript x denotes the partial derivative.
ðLi  Li1 Þzm + Li1
zM = ð14Þ
L Multi-boundary constraints with N-S arrangement
where zM denotes the ratio of the distance from the The elastic potential energy15 in the ith restricted seg-
minimum stiffness position to the top tensioned posi- ment can be expressed as
tion on cable and the whole cable length, and zm is the
minimum stiffness position on cable between any two ð jDLi
Li1 +
X
N0
adjacent deflection suppression systems. The expression ENSi = 2 ðT0  rgxÞei dx ð19Þ
of zm is j=1
Li1 + (j1)DLi
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
1  1  ai by which element stiffness matrix keNSij can be derived,
zm = ð15Þ
ai and accordingly, the general stiffness matrix KNSi in the
ith restricted cable segment can be obtained.
Therefore, the minimum stiffness at N-S arrange-
ment can be denoted as Set the position x1 of the lifting container to be located
in the jth element; the generalized stiffness matrix is kNSi.
4rg The equivalent node force in the jth element is NTij f , and
Kmin = ð16Þ the corresponding general equivalent node forces FNSi
lnð1  ai Þ
can be obtained on scale of the whole cable.
The stiffness of cable A and cable B at W-E arrange- The boundary conditions of guide cable at N-S
ment is expressed with ka(x) and kb(x), respectively. arrangement are wi,0 = 0 and wi,N0 = 0, based on which
According to equation (9), ka(x) and kb(x) can be matrix elements in kNSi are taken out from the second
demonstrated as line and column to the (N0 2 1)th line and column to
form a new matrix k ~NSi . Similarly, F~ NSi and ~qNSi are
T0  rgLi1 built by taking from the second line to the (N0 2 1)th
ln
T0  rgLi line of the force vector FNSi and deflection vector qNSi ,
ka (x) = rg
T0  rgx T0  rgLi1 respectively. Therefore, equilibrium equation of guide
ln ln
T0  rgLi T0  rgx cable can be expressed as
ð17Þ
T0
ln ~ NSi
~NSi ~qNSi = F
T0  rgL k ð20Þ
kb (x) = rg
T0 T0  rgx T
ln  ln where ~qNSi = ½wi, 1 , wi, 2 , . . . , wi, n1  , and the cable
T0  rgx T0  rgL
deflection at conveyance position x1 can be described
Therefore, deflection at W-E arrangement can be as wNSi (x1 ) = Ni ½wi, j1 wi, j T . When n = 0, there are two
formulated as constraint boundaries: i = 1 and Li = L. Thus, deflec-
tions of cable with two boundaries constrained can be
f obtained by this method.
wWE (x) = ð18Þ
½ka (x) + kb (x)
Multi-boundary constraints with W-E arrangement
Validation model (FEM) of guide cable
Since the lengths of the restricted segments on two
Finite element model is introduced in this section to guide cables are different, the deflections of each ele-
validate the foregoing derivation. Both guide cables are ment on two cables are unequal. Set wa(x) and wb(x)
Yan et al.
as the deflections of Cables A and B, respectively. The
force position is in the jth bar element of the ith
restricted segment on Cable A, while it corresponds to
the jbth bar element on Cable B, where
jb = (i 2 1)N0 + j. Different restricted cable lengths
result in different number of two cable elements,
thereby leading to distinctive deflections of their nodes.
In order to facilitate the solution, the generalized dis-
placement of the cable system is set as qWE = ½qa qb T
where qa = [wa0, wa1, ., waN0]T and qb = [wb0, wb1,
., wb(n + 1)N0]T. Therefore, the deflection expressions
of two guide cables at conveyance position can be
written as wa(x) = Nijb[waj 2 1waj]T and wb(x) =
Nijb[wbjb 2 1wajb]T.
In this case, the elastic potential energy of two cables
is different and expressed with EWEAi and EWEAi in
equation (21), respectively, with conveyance in the ith
segment which is expressed as
ð jDLi
Li1 +
X
N0
EWEAi = ðT0  rgxÞeA dx
j=1
Li1 + (j1)DLi
jb DL
ð i
X
(n + 1)N0
EWEBi = ðT0  rgxÞeB dx
jb = 1
ðjb 1ÞDLi
where eA = 0:5(wax )2 and eB = 0:5(wbx )2 . keaWEij and
kebWEi denote stiffness matrices of the bar element on
Cables A and B, respectively. The generalized stiffness
matrix can be obtained as kWEi = diag(KaWEi , KbWEi )
where KaWEi and KbWEi are the generalized stiffness
matrices of Cables A and B, respectively. The symbol
diag () represents a diagonal matrix, and the contents
in parentheses are diagonal elements with other ele-
ments being zeros.
Assume that bar elements are enough; the position
of the force acting on the guide cables by the convey-
ance is simplified to the node of the bar element, so the
constrained condition is
waj  wbjb = 0
Also, assume that the force exerted on Cable A is fa
at conveyance position; then, the force on Cable B is f
2 fa and the generalized force of the system is
 T
fi = f0 f1    f(n + 2)N0 + 1
Therefore, the system equilibrium equation is
kWEi qWE = fi . In order to obtain the solution, the con-
strained condition in equation (22) is regard as an
added force balanced equation; thus, a new generalized
stiffness matrix KWEi is introduced as
 g Gravity acceleration
k kf
KWEi = WEi
kG 0
7
where kf and kG are the coefficient matrix of fa and the
coefficient matrix of constraint conditions, respectively.
And similarly, the unknown force fa is regarded as an
added generalized coordinate item combined with origi-
nal vector qWE into the new generalized displacement
vector QWE; thus, the force vector is changed into FWE
as denoted in equation (25)
QWE = ½qWE fa T
 T ð25Þ
FWE = FWE, 0 FWE, 1    FWE, (n + 2)N0 + 2
The corresponding new force balanced equation is
expressed as KWEi QWE = FWE . Geometric boundary
conditions are
wa0 = waN0 = wb0 = wb(n + 1)N0 = 0 ð26Þ
Delete lines where boundaries are located in KWEi,
QWE, and FWE; deleting the corresponding columns in
KWEi, equation (27) can yield and all the node deflec-
tions can be calculated when the conveyance is in the
jth bar element of the ith restricted segment on guide
ð21Þ cables
K ~ WE = F
~ WEi Q ~ WE ð27Þ
Application analysis and results
In this section, influence factors and regulations for
cable-guided system are analyzed. The parameters of
shaft and guide cable are shown in Table 1.
Validation of theoretical and FEM models
FEM is applied to verify the correctness of theoretical
method. Let the number of deflection suppression sys-
tems n = 2 and the number of bar elements N0 = 200
in each restricted segment; thus, there are N0(n + 1)
bar elements on each guide cable. Let the top tension
T0 = 2.5 3 1025 N; the deflections of guide cable at
ð22Þ conveyance position are obtained through theoretical
method and FEM with multi-boundary constraints as
shown in Figure 4. Guide cable with two boundaries is
shown in Figure 4(a). Cables with W-E arrangement
and N-S arrangement are shown in Figure 4(b) and (c),
ð23Þ
Table 1. Parameters of shaft and guide cable.
Parameter Description Value
L Guide cable length 1500 m
r Guide cable density 10.3 kg/m
EI Bending stiffness of guide cable 7.7 3 104 N m2
9.807 m/s2
v Hoisting velocity 7 m/s
ð24Þ m Conveyance quality with full load 8000 kg
8 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Figure 4. Conveyance deflections with theoretical and FEM
methods: (a) two constraints, (b) four constraints with W-E
arrangement, and (c) four constraints with N-S arrangement.
respectively. This indicates that theoretical method and
FEM can obtain the same results.
Bending stiffness effects on deflection
In order to obtain how the bending stiffness of guide
cable affects the deflection characteristics of guide
cables at the conveyance position, deflection deviation
ratio is obtained when considering the cable bending
stiffness and ignoring the bending stiffness.
Cables with 1500 m length and 100 m length are
taken for analysis. According to the national regulation
that the tensioning force of guide cable is not less than
1 t/100 m, minimum bottom tensions are exerted on
these two types of cables. And evenly distributed loads
are applied on the cables. According to equation (3)
with bending stiffness and equation (5) ignoring bend-
ing stiffness, deflection deviation ratio is shown in
Figure 3. The bending stiffness of cable with 1500 m
length is 7.7 3 104 N m2, and the deflection
deviation ratio changing with cable length is shown in
Figure 5(a). Correspondingly, the bending stiffness of
Figure 5. Bending stiffness effects on cable lateral deflection
with different cable length: (a) cable with EI = 7.7 3 104 Nm2
and EI = 0 and (b) cable with EI = 4.8 3 103 Nm2 and EI = 0.
cable with 100 m length is 4.8 3 103 N m2, and the
deflection deviation ratio changing with cable length is
shown in Figure 5(b).
As shown in Figure 5(a), when the whole cable
length is less than 100 m, bending stiffness has great
effects on cable deflection. Because of the large bending
stiffness suit for 1500-m-length cables, the deflection
deviation ratio is 11.06% at the position of 100 m.
When the position range is 200–500 m, the deflection
deviation ratio is less than 5%. When the position
range is 500–1500 m, the deflection deviation ratio is
less than 1%.
In Figure 5(b), the bending stiffness, which suits
1500-m-length cables, is used. When the whole cable
length is 100 m, the deflection deviation ratio is 2.59%.
When the position range is 70–100 m, the deflection
deviation ratio is less than 5%.
In conclusion, in cable-guided system of 500–1500 m
deep shaft without deflection suppression systems,
bending stiffness has a small effect on the cable deflec-
tion. Therefore, in order to simplify the calculation,
bending stiffness of 1500-m-length cable is ignored in
the following analysis.
Yan et al. 9

Table 2. Stiffness characteristics.

T0 (N) 1.6 3 105 2.0 3 105 2.5 3 105 3.0 3 105 3.5 3 105
Kmin1 (N/m) 1.0652 3 103 1.3882 3 103 1.7904 3 103 2.1918 3 103 2.5927 3 103
Kmin2 (N/m) 653.26 980.112 1.3841 3 103 1.7863 3 103 2.1877 3 103
Kmin3 (N/m) 208.399 566.091 976.022 1.3801 3 103 1.7823 3 103
Km (N/m) 137.589 285.132 433.731 574.498 712.322
Kmin12Kmin2 (N/m) 411.94 408.088 406.3 405.5 405
Kmin22Kmin3 (N/m) 444.861 414.021 408.078 406.2 405.4

tension varying curve is denoted by em. When two pairs

Figure 6. Top tension effects on minimum stiffness and
corresponding position: (a) minimum stiffness varies with top
tension and (b) position of minimum stiffness varies with top
tension.
Top tension effects
There are four boundaries on guide cables with two
deflection suppression systems evenly distributed in
shaft, and the distances from the two constraint points
to the top tensioned point are L1 = 1/3L, L2 = 2/3L,
respectively. The both ends of guide cable are con-
strained in this section. According to equations (15)
and (16), how the top tension of cable affects the mini-
mum cable stiffness value and its position is shown in
Figure 6(a) and (b), respectively. When cable is con-
strained only by two boundaries, the minimum stiffness
with the top tension varying curve is denoted by Kmin
and the position of minimum stiffness with the top
of deflection suppression systems are used, the cable
was distributed into three segments. Kmin1, Kmin2, and
Kmin3 denote the minimum stiffness of these three seg-
ments from top to bottom. em1, em2, and em3 are the
corresponding positions of minimum stiffness.
As shown in Figure 6(a), when two boundaries are
added to the system, the minimum stiffness of guide
cable significantly increased. As the top tension
increases, the increasing rate of the minimum stiffness
also increases.
In three curves of Kmin1, Kmin2, and Kmin3, the mini-
mum stiffness of these three segments vary linearly
under certain tension (i.e. T0 . 2.0 3 105 N). The data
in Table 2 show that the differences between the mini-
mum stiffness of two adjacent segments are about
406 N/m. Because the cable lengths of these three seg-
ments are the same, increased top tension has similar
effects on minimum stiffness.
With an increase in top tension, the minimum stiff-
ness increases rapidly at first and then almost increases
linearly. In Figure 6(a) and Table 1, when the top ten-
sion is 1.6 3 105 N, the value of Kmin2–Kmin3 is rela-
tively large. This is because the gravity has a greater
effect on the bottom constrained segment than on the
top segment. Figure 6(b) shows that emi . 0.5, that is,
the position of minimum stiffness is at the lower half
part of guide cable. This is because the cable gravity
making the cable tension at any position is always
smaller than its top tension. In Figure 6(b), when the
top tension value is close to the gravity of the guide cable
(i.e. ai . 0.5), increased top tension has an obvious effect
on the position of minimum stiffness. When the top ten-
sion value is far greater than the gravity of the guide cable
(i.e. ai \ 0.5), increased top tension has little effects on
the position of minimum stiffness. And with an increase
in top tension, the position of minimum stiffness slowly
approaches the half of the guide cable.
Boundary effects
All boundary constraints are uniformly distributed in
the shaft and the top tension is T0 = 22.496 3 105 N.
Figure 7(a) shows the minimum stiffness of the first
and the last constrained cable segments with the
10 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Figure 7. Effects of boundary number on the value and situation of minimum rope stiffness: (a) minimum stiffness varies with
boundary increased and (b) position of minimum stiffness varies with boundary increased.

Figure 8. Boundary number effects on minimum tensions.

boundaries increased, while Figure 7(b) shows the cor-

responding minimum stiffness positions of the first and
the last constrained cable segments with the boundaries
increased.
When the boundary constraints are uniformly dis-
tributed, the minimum stiffness of the first and last
cable segments increase linearly with an increase in the
number of boundaries as shown in Figure 7(a), and cor-
respondingly, more boundary constraints lead to the
positions of minimum stiffness approaching the middle
of the cable segments as Figure 7(b) shows. When the
boundary number is more than 4, the increased bound- Figure 9. Deflection and stiffness characteristics of guide cable:
(a) cable deflection with 4 boundaries (W-E arrangement: w1(x),
ary constraints have small effects on the positions of
N-S arrangement: w2(x)) and 2 boundaries (w(x)) and (b) cable
minimum stiffness. stiffness with 4 boundaries (W-E arrangement: k11(x) and k12(x),
According to the national standards, the minimum N-S arrangement: k2(x)) and 2 boundaries (k(x)).
stiffness should be more than or equal to 500 N/m. The
minimum top and bottom tensions can be obtained
with multiple boundaries based on the above para- The deflection characteristics and arrangements of
meters as shown in Figure 8, which shows that the guide cable
required minimum tensions at top and bottom varied
obviously with boundaries increased at beginning. In the case of the two arrangements of deflection sup-
When the number of constraint boundaries is more pression system, the cable displacement and stiffness
than 4, the increased boundaries have little effects on characteristics are analyzed with the conveyance mov-
the required minimum tensions. ing down and two deflection suppression systems used.
Yan et al.
And the distances from the constrained positions to the
top tensioned position are L1 = 1/3L and L2 = 2/3L.
The displacement characteristics and the stiffness char-
acteristics of cable are shown in Figure 9(a) and (b),
respectively, with no deflection suppression systems
installed. w1(x), k11(x), and k12(x) are curves with cable
and deflection system arranged as shown in Figure 3(b),
where w1(x) is deflection curve and k11(x) and k12(x) are
stiffness curves of west cable and east cable, respec-
tively. w2(x) and k2(x) are curves with cable and deflec-
tion system arranged as shown in Figure 3(a), where
w2(x) and k2(x) are deflection and stiffness curves,
respectively.
Figure 9(a) and (b) shows that the cable displace-
ment obviously decreased and its stiffness significantly
increased with two deflection suppression systems
installed.
Whether the guide cables are arranged on east–west
sides or north–south sides of conveyance, the maxi-
mum displacement in each constrained cable segment is
increasing gradually from top to bottom. This is
because the cable tension at upper constrained position
in each cable segment reduced when the conveyance
moves down.
As shown in Figure 9(a), the deflection of two cables
arranged in east and west is larger than that arranged in
south and north. Figure 9(b) shows that when the con-
veyance moves down, the stiffness of the cable arranged
in west is the same as that of two cables arranged in
south and north because constrained boundaries of the
cables under the two conditions are the same. And the
stiffness of the cable arranged in east is the same as the
stiffness of two cables with no deflection suppression
system installed because both the constrained bound-
aries of the cables under the two conditions are four.
Similarly, when the conveyance moves up, the stiffness
of the cable arranged in east is the same as that of two
cables arranged in south and north, and the stiffness of
the cable arranged in west is the same as the stiffness of
two cables with no deflection suppression system
installed.
Therefore, the average stiffness of the guide cables
arranged on east and west sides of conveyance is
smaller than those arranged on south and north sides
of conveyance under the condition of multi-boundary
constraints. And the guide cable arranged on south and
north sides of conveyance is better.
Conclusion
In this article, the equilibrium equation of lateral deflec-
tion is established in deep vertical cable-guided system.
The analytical expression for the lateral stiffness of
guide cables ignoring its bending stiffness under multi-
11
boundary conditions is deduced. And the conclusions
are as follows:
1. The deflection characteristics of the guide cable
under two conditions that bending stiffness is
considered and ignored are analyzed. And the
conclusion is that bending stiffness can be
ignored in cable-guided system of 1500 m deep
shaft.
2. With an increase in the top tension, the mini-
mum stiffness of guide cable in each constrained
segment increases rapidly at the beginning and
later linearly, and its position approaches the
middle of two adjacent constrained positions on
the cable.
With an increase in boundaries, the minimum stiff-
ness of guide cable in each constrained segment
increases linearly and its position approaches the mid-
dle of two adjacent constrained positions on the cable.
The increased boundaries in cable-guided systems
can reduce the originally required minimum tension.
And the minimum top tension of guide cable can be
chosen for use according to the number of boundaries.
3. Under the condition of multiple boundaries, the
arrangement of guide cable and deflection sup-
pression system in north and south sides of the
conveyance is better than that in east and west
sides.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial sup-
port for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article: This work was supported by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (51475456), the National Key
Basic Research Program of China (2014CB049401), and the
Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher
Education Institutions (PAPD).
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T0  rgLi1 1
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|fflfflfflfflfflffl{zfflfflfflfflfflffl} |fflfflfflfflffl{zfflfflfflfflffl}
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|fflfflfflfflfflffl{zfflfflfflfflfflffl} |fflfflfflfflffl{zfflfflfflfflffl}
46: 341–345. jb 1 ðn + 1ÞN0 jb

ð32Þ
Appendix 1 In equation (23)
In order to obtain the equation (20), element stiffness 8
>
> fa , k =j
matrix keNSij and generalized stiffness matrix kNSi are >
> f  fa , k = jb + N0 + 1
>
>
shown as equation (28) according to equation (19). The >
>
< fA1 , k =0
corresponding node force vector FNSi at N-S arrange- fk = fA2 , k = N0 , k = 0, 1, . . . , (n + 2)N0 + 1
>
>
ment is expressed as equation (29). >
> fB1 , k = N0 + 1
>
>
>
> f , k = (n + 2)N0 + 1

 : B1
0, else
T0  rgLi1 1
keNS ij = 2  rg ð2j  1Þ DL2i NTij, x Nij, x ð33Þ
DLi 2
0 1
X B
N0 where fA1 and fA2 are forces at the top and bottom con-
C strained point in the ith restricted segment on Cable A,
kNSi = dig@0, . . . , 0, keNS ij , 0, . . . , 0A
|fflfflfflfflffl{zfflfflfflfflffl} |fflfflfflffl{zfflfflfflffl}
j=1
ðj1Þ ðN0 jÞ respectively. fB1 and fB2 are forces at the top and bot-
tom fixed point on Cable B. In equation (24), kG and kf
ð28Þ
are
Yan et al. 13

 T
kG = kG, 0 kG, 1    kG, (n + 2)N0 + 1
 ð34Þ
kf = kf , 0 kf , 1    kf , (n + 2)N0 + 1

where
8 8
< 1, k = j < 1, k = j
kf , k = 1, k = jb + N0 + 1 , kG, k = 1, k = jb + N0 + 1 ð35Þ
: :
0, else 0, else

In equation (35), subscript k = 0, 1, .,

(n + 2)N0 + 1. In equation (25)
8
>
> f, k = jb + N0 + 1
>
>
>
> fA1 , k=0
<
fA2 , k = N0
FWE, k = , k = 0, 1, . . . , (n + 2)N0 + 2 ð36Þ
> fB1 ,
> k = N0 + 1
>
>
>
> f , k = (n + 2)N0 + 1
: B1
0, else