Proceedings of the Twenty-ninth (2019) International Ocean and Polar Engineering Conference www.isope.

org
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, June 16-21, 2019
Copyright © 2019 by the International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE)
ISBN 978-1 880653 85-2; ISSN 1098-6189

Carbon Fiber Armour for Hyper Deep Water Power Cables – Termination System Development
Anne Berg Thorvaldsen and Torunn Lund Clasen
Nexans Norway AS
Halden, Norway

ABSTRACT arrangement with armour block, locking cones and press plate, cannot
be used for a CF armour as such solution will crush the fiber rods.
To be able to meet our customers’ future needs Nexans is developing
A development program to qualify a CF armour has been initiated. The
dynamic cables for deep waters. One of the main challenges with a
work is in line with previous development work by Clasen (2016) with
subsea power cable in deep waters is the high topside tension caused by
CF armour, and is managed according to DNV-OSS-401 (2012) and
the weight of the cable. In order to reduce the cable weight and
DNV-RP-A203 (2011).
increase the axial load capacity of a cable, the traditional steel wire
armour may be replaced by carbon fiber (CF) rods. A development
program to qualify a dynamic power cable using CF rods as armour has TYPICAL TERMINATION ARRANGEMENT FOR STEEL
been initiated. WIRE ARMOUR

One challenge using CF as armor in a power cable is that the traditional
termination concept for steel wire armour cannot be used for CF
armour, as such solution will crush the CF rods. Hence a new
termination concept for CF rods must be developed.
To qualify a termination system, both small scale tests and a full-scale
test have been performed. Ageing of rods and termination solutions
have been executed in parallel with mechanical testing and concept
development. As one solution has performed very well in all tests, this
solution is being further developed to full-scale testing in 2019.
KEY WORDS: Cable; carbon fiber; cable termination; hang-off; hyper
deep water; ageing: mechanical testing.
The mechanical termination of a cable on a platform is typically solved
using an armour block which is part of the hang-off arrangement. The
design principle is based on pinching/clamping the armour wires
between cones. Fig. 1 shows a typical hang-off arrangement. Each
armour layer lay against a grooved cone on one side and a smooth cone
on the other side. The cones are forced together by using a press plate
with bolts. The cones will be further pressed against the armour wires
by increasing cable tension.
Press plate and
locking cone
Steel armour wire

INTRODUCTION
Armour block
As the exploration of oil and gas fields goes to deeper waters, the
current solutions for dynamic power cables reaches their limits. One of
the main challenges with a subsea power cable in deep waters is the
high topside tension caused by the weight of the cable, and the risk of Split flange
overloading the internal elements. Keeping the cable weight as low as
possible and optimizing the load distribution in the cable design are
therefore key parameters to reach deep waters. J or I-tube

To reduce the cable weight and increase the axial load capacity of a Cable with steel wire
cable, the traditional steel wire armour may be replaced by carbon fiber armouring
(CF) rods. Using CF rods as armor introduces new challenges to the
mechanical termination of the cable topside. A conventional hang-off Fig. 1 Typical hang-off arrangement for steel wire armour

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CHALLENGES REGARDING CARBON FIBER loaded with tension, and the CF rod is pulled further into the mold.
TERMINATION ARRANGEMENT Different materials, dimensions, tolerances and casting methods have
been tested to conclude on the design.
It early became evident that one of the most challenging tasks with
developing a termination arrangement for the CF armour, was to find a
solution for terminating each CF rod. To have a reliable termination
arrangement it is also important to ensure an even load distribution in
the design.
Design life and properties of the selected materials have to be
confirmed through testing and ageing.

CONCEPT SELECTION FOR TERMINATION OF SINGEL

ROD

The first challenge to be solved was how to hold onto a single CF rod. Fig. 3 Cast material on CF rod
Based on initial testing, two alternative termination concepts were
identified. Both concepts are based on sleeves, one crimp bushing and TEST PROGRAM SINGLE ROD
one cast bushing. The termination concept of a single rod is important
input data to the design of the complete termination system. Hence A test program, see Table 1, was developed to verify that the chosen
testing of the two alternative solutions, crimp and cast bushings, had to design concepts with crimp and cast bushings met the design
be done prior to finalizing a system design. requirements. The test program involved tensile tests, static long-term
tests and dynamic fatigue tests on both aged and unaged test samples.
Design Requirements for single rod termination All static long-term and dynamic fatigue tests were done in water
holding 70°C. To confirm repeatability, each test was repeated on a
The utilization of the carbon fiber rod shall be according to guidelines minimum of three samples.
in the offshore standard DNVGL-ST-C501 (2017). The rated minimum
tensile strength of one CF rod is 2500 MPa. Table 1. Test program
Load Conditions Criteria/
The main requirements for the termination are as follows: Duration
 One termination shall withstand minimum tensile strength of Tensile test ≥ 2500 MPa 70°C Pull until
the CF rod. air failure
 Operation temperature will be -25 to 70°C. Static long- 1: 2000 MPa 70°C ≥16
 Design service life for the termination shall be 30 years. term test 2: 2250 MPa tap water weeks
3: 2500 MPA
Repeatability, robustness and assembly method are critical factors that Dynamic 1: 1500 MPA ± 10 % 70°C Up to
need to be carefully considered in the system design. fatigue 2: 1500 MPA ± 15 % tap water 2E+06
test 3: 1500 MPA ± 20 % cycles
Crimp Bushing
All test samples were prepared and tested at Nexans’ Materials Test
The concept consists of a bushing with a center hole at approximately Laboratory.
the same size as the rod. Fig. 2 shows the bushing which is crimped
onto the rod using a hydraulic hose crimper. Different materials,
dimensions, tolerances and machining methods have been tested to Ageing
conclude on the design.
To be able to conclude that the carbon rod can be used as armour in a
power cable, it is necessary to confirm that the carbon rod termination
can operate at design temperature for 30 years. As ageing at testing
temperature for 30 years is not feasible, accelerated ageing was
performed.

Test samples for ageing were placed in three different containers. The
containers were filled with tap water and kept at temperatures of
respectively 70°C, 80°C and 90°C. Three test samples were taken out
of each container after 2, 4, 8 and 16 weeks and prepared for tensile
Fig. 2 Crimp bushing on CF rod testing.

In addition, test samples for static long-term tensile tests and dynamic
Cast Bushing fatigue tests were aged at 90°C for 16 weeks. Just above 100 samples
were prepared and aged.
This concept consists of a bushing with a cone inner volume. The
bushing is filled with a cast material. The bonding between the CF rod
and the cast material is the termination, see Fig. 3. The conical shape of
the mold will set up internal radial and hoop stresses as the CF rod is

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Table 2. Overview aged test samples Results cast bushing
Temp 70°C 80°C 90°C None of the 36 test samples achieved the minimum tensile strength for
Weeks the CF rod. There were large variations in the test results.
2 Tensile testing Tensile testing Tensile testing Failure mechanism was break of the CF rod in the narrow part of the
4 Tensile testing Tensile testing Tensile testing bushing. When the tensile load was applied large internal radial and
8 Tensile testing Tensile testing Tensile testing hoop stresses occurred in the conical shape of the bushing, resulting in
16 Tensile testing Tensile testing Tensile testing clipping of the CF rods. This theory has been supported by finite
Static long-term element analyses.
Dynamic
fatigue testing Static Long-Term Testing

Tensile Testing of Aged Test Samples The purpose of the test was to verify that both the cast bushing concept
and the crimp bushing concept met the design requirement for tensile
The purpose of the test was to investigate how the tensile load capacity load capacity over time. Each test was repeated with a minimum of
of the crimp and cast bushing concepts were affected by ageing. three test samples.

A heating chamber was used during the tensile testing to keep the
samples at 70°, see Fig. 4 The test samples were pulled in the tension
machine at a speed of 2 mm/min until break.
The test samples were assembled in a test container that was filled with
tap water. The water temperature was held at 70°C. Both applied
tension and temperature was monitored during the whole test period.
The container and equipment were designed for testing of up to six
samples in parallel, see Fig. 5.

Fig. 5 Test container for static long-term tests

Tests on aged test samples

Fig. 4 Test sample in heating chamber in Zwick Roell tension machine
Results for crimp bushing
All the 34 test samples with crimp bushings exceeded the design
criteria. The lowest achieved result was 2574 MPa, which is above
minimum tensile strength for the CF rod. All test samples broke in the
CF rod and not in the termination. The test results were even for the
tested terminations, indicating robustness of the selected crimp bushing
design.
The standard deviation between the samples in a series of three
samples, was from 0.8% to 6.5%. Half of the series had an internal
standard deviation of under 2%.
The first test load for aged test samples was set to 2000 MPa. This
corresponds to a water depth of ≥ 4000 meters. The duration of this test
was 16 weeks. The accept criteria was no loss of tension and/or no
break.
All together nine test samples with cast bushings were tested. All of
them failed after a short time. Further adjustments to the geometry of
the cone and the friction between cone and cast will be required to meet
the design criteria.
All six aged test samples with crimp bushings met the 16 weeks criteria
at a load of 2000 MPa. Additional testing for 16 more weeks is
ongoing.

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Dynamic Fatigue Testing

The purpose of the test was to see how the cast bushing and crimp
bushing behave when exposed to a dynamic load.

As the cast bushing had failed in both the tensile tests and the long term
static test, it was concluded not to carry out dynamic fatigue tests on
this design.

The results from the dynamic fatigue tests will be used to establish SN-
curve according to DNVGL-ST-C501 (2019). Dynamic fatigue testing
on unaged and aged tests samples is ongoing.

Table 3. The test program for dynamic fatigue testing

Unaged samples Aged samples
Crimp bushings Crimp bushings
Tension Load ±10% 3 samples 3 samples
4
Tension Load ±15%. 3 samples 3 samples
3
Tension Load ±20% 3 samples 3 samples
2
Cycles ≥2E+06 ≥ 2E+06
1
Temperature 70°C 70°C
Test Media Tap water Tap water 1. Central Conductor, 1600 mm2, Cu wires
2. Concentric conductor, 1700 mm2, flat Cu wires
3. Carbon fiber rod
Overview of test results for single rod termination 4. Carbon fiber rod
Fig. 6 Prototype cable with CF armour
The results from testing of the cast and crimp bushings are summarized
in the table below. The full-scale test termination is shown in Fig. 7.

Table 4. Overview of test results single rod termination

Test program Crimp bushing Cast busing
Aged Unaged Aged Unaged
Tensile testing Passed Passed Failed Passed
Static long- Passed Passed Failed Passed
term (Ongoing)
Dynamic Ongoing Passed - -
testing

FULL-SCALE TESTING OF CRIMP BUSHING

TERMINATION
In order to verify that the crimp bushing will operate successfully in a
termination system, a full-scale test was carried out. A 20 meter long
part of the CF armored prototype cable, see Fig. 6 (Clasen, 2016) was
terminated in each end using crimp bushings on each separate CF rod.
The prototype cable was a coaxial XLPE cable design where the copper
conductors are protected from mechanical axial overloading by use of
two layers of carbon fiber rods.
Fig. 7 Termination system on test object
The termination was tested in accordance to Cigré 623 (2015)
recommendations for tensile testing. The test object was successfully
tensile tested in steps up to 3000 kN. Hence the single rod termination
was verified in a static full-scale context.
SYSTEM DESIGN FOR CARBON FIBER TERMINATION
Design Criteria

The main design criteria for the dynamic termination system are listed
below.
 Two load barriers, i.e. if one barrier fails the second barrier
shall manage the load.
 Even distribution of forces between CF rods.
 Design life of 30 years
 Operation temperature between -25 and 70°C.
 Water depth ≥4000 m
 Environmental data

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Design description
The design consists of three main parts; see Fig. 8:
 Upper steel cone
 Lower steel cone
 Bend restrictor
Crimp bushing
Upper steel cone
casted with Epoxy
Separation plate
CF rod
Lower steel cone –
casted with a flexible
material
Bend restrictor
Fig. 8 Schematic illustration of system design
Termination house
The termination house consists of an upper and a lower steel cone,
separated by a horizontal separation plate. The upper steel cone takes
the whole hang-off load. The main function for the separation plate is
to ensure separation between the cast material in the upper cone and the
cast material in the lower cone. In addition, the separation plate ensures
right position and angle of each CF rod. This is important to provide
even load distribution between the individual CF rods. The CF rods are
terminated at the ends with crimp bushings before casting material is
added.
The lower steel cone is to be filled with a flexible material. This
material allows for some movement of the rods. There is minimum
bonding between the rods and the cast in the lower cone.
The casting material and crimp bushings represents the two load
barriers in the design. The casting material bonds to the CF-rods and
the crimp bushing works as an anchor in the casting material.
Bend restrictor part
Uneven tensile forces between rods cannot be allowed to enter into the
termination house. To prevent this, a straight part and a typical bend
stiffener are implemented into the system design.
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PROTOTYPE TERMINATION
When the system design is completed a full-scale prototype termination
shall be manufactured and subjected to static and dynamic testing.
CONCLUSIONS
An extensive small-scale test program has been carried out and is still
ongoing. Based on the results, the crimp bushing seems like a reliable
termination for a single CF rod. Numerous single rod-tests have been
executed, and they have all met or exceeded the design criteria. No
degradation in the tensile properties has been observed for the crimp
bushing during ageing. This indicates that the material, tolerances and
pressure used in the crimping process for the termination solution, are
both adequate and repeatable.
Some small-scale testing of crimp bushing terminations are still
ongoing, and a final conclusion regarding the single rod termination
design cannot be drawn before this testing has been finalized.
The static full-scale test of the crimp bushing has proved that the
selected crimp bushing concept performs well in a full-scale context,
both with respect to assembly and load capacity.
The cast bushing failed during small scale testing; both during tensile
tests and static long-term tests after ageing. Further development will
be required before this design concept can be used.
Detail engineering and final calculations are still to be carried out for
the final system design. To verify the concept a full-scale prototype
shall be manufactured and tested.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks are due to the following colleagues in Nexans Norway AS:
Bjørn Roger Slora, Tina Gooding, Eirik Grønvold, Bjørn Aspli and
Andreas Werner.
REFERENCES
Cigré 623 - “Recommendations for mechanical
testing of submarine cables”. June 2015.
Clasen, TL, Slora, BR, Karlsen S (2016) “Design and Qualification of
Direct Electric Heating Riser Cable for Deep Water Applications”
Proc 48th Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, OTC-26923-
MS.
Det Norske Veritas (2011). “Qualification procedures for new
technology”. DNV-RP-A203.
Det Norske Veritas (2010). “Technology qualification management”
DNV-OSS-401.
Det Norske Veritas (2017). “Composite Components”
DNVGL-ST-C501.