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    MIT-Thesis-Structural Response To VIV

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    The Effects of Bending Stiffness on the Dynamics of Catenary Cables by Josh Schifter Submitted to the Department ef Mechanical Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering atthe MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY August 1996, Eeeplerbee ta] © Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1996. All Rights Reserved. Author eeentneceneetngat August 1, 1996 Cettified by eee ee ~ “ J. Kim Vandiver Professor of Ocean Engineering Thesis Supervisor ‘Ain A. Sonin Professor of Mechanical Engineering ‘Thesis Reader Accepted by .. Ain A. Sonin Chairman, Department Committee on Graduate Students Department of Mechanical Engineering The Effects of Bending Stiffness on the Dynamics of Catenary Cables by Josh Schifter Submitted to the Department of Mechanical Engineering on August 1, 1996 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering Abstract A numerical study was conducted to document the effects of bending stiffness on thr undamped free vibrational modes of horizontal catenary cables. A finite element model ‘was used to solve for the natural frequencies and mode shapes of catenaries over a range of parameters. These results were then used to formulate a method for approximating the natural frequencies using analytical methods. It was found that the Euler-Bernoulli formulation for a straight beam under tension ade- quately approximates the natural frequencies for modes in frequency ranges away from modal crossovers. In the frequency range near a modal crossover, the frequencies can be bounded by a simple analytic expression. The concept of an effective sag parameter is introduced in order to locate the modal crossovers in situations with significant bending stiffness. Thesis Supervisor: J. Kim Vandiver Title: Professor of Ocean Engineering Table of Contents Introduction... 2 Beckground... 2.1 Introduction. 2.2. Straight Cable 2.3 Straight Beam. 2.4 Horizontal Catenary Cabl 3 Finite Element Mode .. . 3.1 Introduction... 3.2 Model Description 3.3 Model Verification. 3.4 Elastic Mode Interaction... 4 Effect on Crossovers 4.1. Introduction. 4.2 Qualitative Effects 4.3. Effective Sag Parameter 44° The Effective Sag Plot . 4.5 Examples. 5 Model Selection 3.1 Introduction. 5.2 Catenary Cable Model .. 5.3. Straight Beam Model 5.4 Low Sag Cables 6 Summary. . Bibliography Chapter 1 Introduction There are many situations in which catenary structures are used. Examples are an unsup- ported length of underwater communications cable or a steel catenary production riser such as those used in offshore oil drilling operations. Fluid flow over these structures and the resulting vortices can result in a hostile vibration climate. Due to the difficulty and expense of inspecting and replacing these structures, it is important to have accurate esti- mates of their effective lifetime This study investigates some of the issues involved in modeling the undamped free vibrational modes of a catenary cable with bending stiffness. To the author's knowledge, there is no analytic solution to this problem, so a numerical approach was used. A finite element model was used to solve for the natural frequencies and modeshapes, which were then compared to analytical solutions for similar problems. The goal of the study was to provide some rules of thumb to allow for the prediction of natural frequencies and mode shapes without recourse to a full numerical solution. Once found, the fre juencies and mode shapes can be used to calculate such things as the vibra- tion response and the fatigue damage rate. In chapter 2, some of the mathematical background for the different analytical models is presented. The aim in that chapter is to briefly summarize the results of other authors in order to make use of various relations that are needed. Chapter 3 includes an introduction to the finite element model, including some verification of the accuracy of the model. The remainder of the paper presents the comparison between the finite element model and the analytical models. Chapter 4 presents a method that can used to qualitatively determine the effects of bending stiffness on frequency crossover. A new dimensionless parameter is introduced, which can be used to locate the crossovers in the presence of bending stiffness. Chapter 5 addresses the use of analytical models to approximate the natural frequencies. In addition, the case of the low sag catenary is given a closer look. A graphical method of predicting the first mode natural frequencies for this case is presented, Chapter 2 Background 2.1 Introduction ‘The best way to describe the behavior of a catenary cable that has bending stiffness is by a series of increasingly complex comparison to simpler related models. In this cha~~ models is presented. Each of these can be used to model catenary behavior with bending stiffness, but each has limitations that can be overcome by using the finite element model. For the new model to be correct it must reduce to each of these models as simple cases. In the following, a cable (or string) is defined as a slender prismatic structure that has negligible bending stiffness. A cable can support only axial stress, and cannot support a bending moment. A beam is similar to a cable except for the presence of bending stiffness. A catenary is either member, cable or beam, that hangs between supports under the influ- ence of gravity. First we look at the straight cable (or taut string) model that is undoubtedly familiar to most readers. The straight cable model introduces the concept of natural frequencies and mode shapes. It is also especially useful to normalize the results from the catenary model. The next model is that of a straight beam under tension. This model shows the effects of bending stiffness on the straight cable. Last we examine the catenary cable model which adds the effects of gravity to the straight cable, but neglects the presence of bending stiff- ness. 2.2 Straight Cable The straight cable model is one of the simplest examples of vibrations in a continuous sys- tem [1]. For the purposes of this paper, we are interested in the undamped free vibration problem. The solution is an infinite set of natural frequencies (eigenvalues) and mode shapes (eigenfunctions). When the cable vibrates due to extemal excitation, the response is a linear superposition of the eigenfunctions The dynamics of a taut string are governed by the one dimensional wave equation: e262, 0) = maw(x,0) Qu) Ox or where H is the tension, m is the mass per unit length and w is the transverse deflection of the cable. To find the natural frequencies and modeshapes for this system, one would use the method of separation of variables. By writing w(x, 1) = y(x)-n(), the solution to equation 2.1 can be shown to be a superposition of simple mode shapes acting at a discrete set of natural frequencies. The time dependent portion of the solution is n(x) = sin(w,t+¢,). For the case where both ends of the cable are pinned, and the displacement is assumed to be small, the natural frequencies are: E 2 where i = 1,2,3... and / is the length of the cable. For the purposes of later discussion, 7 note that the natural frequency increases linearly with mode number. The normalized mode shapes can be written as: (eh (2.3) Thus the total solution for these boundary conditions is: won = DAsin( Es }sin(o.e+@) (24) a where A; is a set of modal weighting coefficients that depend on the initial conditions. 2.3 Straight Beam In order to expand the previous model to include the effects of bending stiffness [2], we must turn to Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. The partial differential equation becomes 4th order: 2p) 2”, a Pa(Ethaetnn)- Awe where E is Young's Modulus and / is the second moment of area. Taken together the 235) term El is called either the bending stiffness or the flexural rigidity. The solution to this, equation is again a superposition of normal modes. For the case of simply supported ends, again assuming small displacements, the natural frequencies are: 2.6) Note that for a very flexible beam, one with low EI, the second term under the square root dominates, and 2.6 reduces to 2.2, the natural frequency of a straight string. The ratic of the two terms in equation 2.6 can be used to determine the relative importance of bend- ing stiffness. This ratio, denoted by 7, can be written as: Y= #47 27) Considering straight cables and beams, numerical studies [3] indicate that when > 30, bending stiffness does not have a significant effect on the natural frequencies. For these cases, the simpler straight cable mode! would be preferred. A beam that is dominated by bending stiffness, y << 30, will have frequencies that increase in proportion to the square of the mode number. A tension dominated beam acts more like a cable and the frequencies increase linearly with mode number. 2.4 Horizontal Catenary Cable Accatenary cable is a cable that is supported at each end, and free to hang under the influ- ence of gravity. For the catenary to be ‘horizontal’ this means that the supports are at an " equal vertical level. The term ‘sag’ refers to the vertical distance from the supports to the lowest point in the cable. Irvine [4], presents a model of the dynamics of horizontal cate- nary cables. The highlights of this presentation are repeated in this section. Ssaee Figure 2.1: Schematic of horizontal cable showing coordinate definitions. Solid line shows static shape, dashed line shows a general three dimensional mode shape. u,v, and w are the modal displacements of point ato point b. The governing equations for the full three dimensional free vibration problem are: 28) 29) 2.10) where T is the static cable tension, + is the dynamic tension, s is a coordinate along the arc length of the cable, w and w are the longitudinal and vertical componemts of the in- plane displacement and v is the out of plane displacement. See figure 2.1 After neglecting second order terms and enforcing a shallow-sag simplification, equa- tions 2.8 - 2.10 can be partially decoupled. The in-plane motion can be separated from the out of plane motion. The swinging, out of plane motion reduces to the vibration of a taut string. The solution for v is the same as that in section 2.2. The transverse in-plane motion can be solved separately for the cases of symmetric and anti-symmetric modes. For a straight cable, the antisymmetric modes are even, with mode number n = 2, 4, 6.... while the symmetric modes are odd (n = 1, 3, 5...) In the case of a catenary, the anti-symmetric modes reduce to the taut string model of section 2.2. The symmetric modes are more complicated. At this point, itis useful to adopt the notation of & for the nondimensional natural fre~ quency. This is defined as: = Quy where the denominator is the first natural frequency of the equivalent straight cable. ‘The nondimensional natural frequencies for the symmetric modes are given by the roots of, the following transcendental equation: san(2) = 8) = where 2 is called the sag parameter: wie: (2.13) and, | is the span length (distance between the supports), /1 is the horizontal compo- nent of the tension, mg=w is the weight per unit length, and L, is the ‘effective’ cable length which can be expressed as: (14847) =1 ey) Here, dis the sag at mid-span [5]. For shallow sag cases, L, is approximately equal to 1. the span length. When this approximation is made, the expression for A can be simpli- fied: (2.15) Figure 2.2 shows the general behavior of the nondimensional catenary frequencies as functions of the sag parameter, 2. For A= 0, we have a taut string, sag has no effect, and the frequencies are equal to i- w,,. Thus when 1 = 0, the nondimensional frequencies have integer values. As A increases, tne effects of sag are stronger, and the odd mode frequen- cies tend to increase. Note that the even (antisymmetric) modes are unaffected by sag and are thus independent of A. For values of 4 corresponding to mi for i = 2,4, .« @ phenomenon known as modal crossover occurs. For these values of 2, the i!" mode and the (i-1)'" mode have the same natural frequency, but different mode shapes. Horizontal Catenary 10; ~ Nondimensional Frequency t0 o Lambda/pi Figure 2.2: Normalized frequencies for a shallow sag horizontal catenary based on the Irvine model. Figure 2.3 shows the first four mode shapes for a range of A values which are labeled above in figure 2.2. The mode numbers in figure 2.3 refer to the actual numerical order of the natural frequencies from lowest to highest. For A > 2.0m the first mode (lowest fre- quency) is the first asymmetric mode. This is in contrast to a taut string for which the low- est frequency mode shape would be symmetric (i=1 in equation 2.3), and the first asymmetric mode would be second in frequency (i=2). Figure 2.3: First for mode shapes for a shallow sag horizontal catenary at 4 = 1,2,3,4. Crossovers occur for A= 2 and A= 4, Chapter 3 Finite Element Model 3.1 Introduction This study has made extensive use of a finite element program entitled ‘jumper, devel- oped by D.L. Garrett [6] at Mobil Research & Development Company. Several non-trivial modifications were made to the original ‘jumper’ code to improve the convenience of model specification and subsequent post processing. The program is capable of modeling a wide variety of cables including various geometrical situations and boundary conditions. For this study only a single model, the horizontal catenary, was used. Before the new finite element model can be used to investigate the behavior of a hori- zontal catenary with bending stiffness, it is first necessary to carefully verify the correct behavior of the model. The first step to verifying the model is to reproduce the behavior of established models. In this chapter, the finite element mode] results will be compared with the analytic solutions to the straight cable, straight beam and the Irvine horizontal catenary model. These verifications can be characterized as ‘simple cases’ since there are analytic solutions available for comparison. To verify the model for the more general case of a cable that has both significant sag and significant bending stiffness there are no established models to use, so a convergence study has been undertaken. While convergence does not ensure the accuracy of the model, it does provide some assurance the model is well behaved. In this chapter, some simple convergence results will be presented. 3.2 Model Description When attempting to model this type of structure, there are some important questions that need to be answered. For compatibility with existing static solutions the boundary conditions of pinned-rollered were chosen. For compatibility with the analytical model of Irvine, we would like direct control over the horizontal component of tension. In order to simplify comparison between several finite element runs, we would like direct control over the total cable length. This combination precludes direct specification of the cable span length. This difficulty is not insurmountable, owing to the fact that the span length remains very near to the total cable length for a wide range of parameters. This may, how- ever, cause difficulties for cables with high tension or low longitudinal stiffness As mentioned before, the ‘jumper’ finite element program is capable of solving several different structural models. The one used in this study is summarized in figure 3.1. Note that the program first solves for the static displacement using a roller on the right bound- ary, and then solves for the eigenvalues using pinned-pinned boundaries. These boundary conditions are defined in figure 3.1. Lett Right x__[fizea free Inputs Outputs. x fixed fixed Geometry Static Displacements Tare length Natural Frequencies a: area Mode Shapes [moment of ares fres Dynamic Boundary Conditions Material Propertics m: mass/length cs Right B: young’s modulus x [nea fixed ‘External Forces : horizontal Force yz |fixea fixed pe oy © gravity Figure 3.1: Summary of finite element model properties. The finite element model has a few advantages over the various analytical solutions that are available, Most importantly, it allows for the effects of both gravity and bending stiffness. Also, it is free from the shallow-sag assumption that is common in analytic cate- nary solutions. 3.3 Model Verification 3.3.1 Comparison to straight beam and cable In order to verify that the finite element model adequately reproduces the eigensolutions for the cases of straight cables and beams, a series of test cases were solved and compared to the established analytic solutions given in Chapter 2. To model straight structures, the effect of gravity (g) was set to zero, thus eliminating the static sag. Other than this single change, the code was identical to that used for the cat- enary models. For presentation here, only a single case is included to summarize the conclusion that the fi element model does accurately solve for natural frequencies and mode shapes. Figure 3.2 shows the natural frequencies and Figure 3.3 shows the first five mode shapes. Note that the mode shapes for the beam and cable models are identical. 3.3.2 Comparison to Irvine catenary model To verify the finite element model against the Irvine catenary model, a series of 50 test cases were generated that did not include any bending stiffness. By varying the tension in the cable, a range of A values were obtained. The resulting frequencies for these cases were nondimensionalized and plotted against the sag parameter A. Figure 3.4 shows the comparison between the finite element model and the Irvine model. 19 Straight Cable/Beam 25 10| Natural Frequency (Hz) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8B 9 10 Mode Number Figure 3.2: Verification of finite element model natural frequencies against theory for a straight beam and cable 20 Straight Cable/Beam 1 a | - Lt Normalized Mode Shapes t 1 PN SNS 1 og 1 0 02 04 06 Of “o 02 04 06 8 Normalized Position Figure 3.3: Verification of finite element mode! modeshapes against theory for a straight cable and beam. Cable and beam modeshapes are identical a Horizontal Catenary with No Bending Stiffness o FEM — Theory Nondimensional Frequency Lambdalpi Figure 3.4: A series of 50 finite element runs for verification of frequencies against Irv- ine’s theory 3.3.3 Convergence For cases with both significant sag and significant bending stiffness, there is no analyt- ical model to fall back on for verification. The best we can do is show that the results con- verge for large numbers of elements. A full convergence study is beyond the scope of this paper, but a sample convergence test is included to illustrate the convergent behavior of the model in one case. Figure 3.5 shows the predicted natural frequencies vs. number of elements in the model for the first 10 in-plane transverse modes. For this case, there is less than 19% 2 change in the first ten predicted frequencies as the number of elements increases from 15 1023. Although a fully conclusive convergence study was not undertaken, several hundred trial runs lend support to the well behaved nature of the model. In actual practice, it was decided that 21 elements would be sufficient for the current purposes. Convergence of Finite Element Model 15 Natural Frequencies (Hz) 0 5 10 15 20 25 Number of Elements Figure 3.5: A series of 19 finite element runs for which bending stiffness and sag were both significant. The first 10 frequencies converge after approximately 15 elements. 3.4 Elastic Mode Interaction It has been proposed by Burgess [7] that in the case of very flexible cables, there is a phe- nomenon known as elastic mode interaction that is not accounted for by the Irvine model. An attempt was made to use the finite element model to reproduce this effect. 23 The first longitudinal (elastic) frequency of a cable can be shown to be: ©, an where j is the mode number for the elastic modes. Thus, making use of equation 2.2, the ratio of the elastic mode frequencies to the flexural mode frequencies is: = Petasic oH The term under the radical will be smaller for cables under high tension or with low G2) longitudinal stiffness. For conditions where this ratio is unity, Burgess predicts a series of crossovers that occur at values of the sag parameter A which may be less than 2.0r. Figure 3.6 shows an attempt to parametrize the natural frequencies for a much lower value of EA/H than was used elsewhere in this paper. The crossovers predicted by Burgess do faithfully appear, but there are problems with the finite element model. The nondimen- sional frequencies can be seen to ‘drift’ up from their expected integer values at low values of A. Also, the first Irvine cross-over has shifted away from its expected position at Wu = 20 The dashed line marked ‘AA’ in figure 3.6 corresponds to /(EA)/H = 485. Thus, along this line, r will be close to unity for j=1 and i=5 corresponding to the point marked as B in the figure, It is at this point that the first elastic frequency is equal to the fifth flex- ural frequency. That this point does not occur at a ratio of exactly unity is again in dis- agreement with Burgess’ results. It is likely that the various disagreements between the finite element model and Bur- ges’ and Irvine's predictions are due to details in the specification of the finite element model. One possible explanation for this lies in the definition and use of the span length. Recall from Chapter 2 that both the sag parameter and nondimensional frequency depend on the span length /. But the span length cannot be controlled directly by the program. 2% Instead it must be extracted from the output of the static solution, where it can be deter- mined by the motion of the right boundary point. It is likely that there is some subtlety regarding the span length or the boundary conditions for the static solution that has not been accounted for in presenting these results. However, the interaction between longitudinal and flexural modes is real, resulting in ‘modal crossovers as shown in figure 3.6. The finite element model agrees at least qualita- tively with Burgess on the details. This phenomenon is not subject to further investigation here, and the examples in this thesis have been chosen to avoid this parameter range. Elastic Mode Interaction 10; © ~ o Nondimensional Frequency a oo © 0 L 1 0 02 04 06 08 1 12 14 16 18 2 lambda/pi Figure 3.6: A series of 50 finite element models of cables with low longitudinal stiffness. 25 6 Chapter 4 Effect on Crossovers 4.1 Introduction The use of a finite element model to investigate the properties of a family of related sys- tems is of limited utility. Unlike an analytic model, it is difficult to identify and understand trends in the results. For this reason, the contents of this chapter summarize conclusions based on many individual case studies. It is not always possible to explain the mechanisms behind the observed behavior of the model. ‘The effect of bending stiffness on the static deflection is intuitive. Increasing stiffness tends to decrease the sag caused by gravity. However, the effect on natural frequencies is not obvious. The sag parameter does not account for the presence of bending stiffness at all. This chapter will describe a method of predicting the general effect that bending stiff- ness has on the natural frequencies of a horizontal catenary cable. Specifically, the effect on the presence and conditions for frequency crossover will be discussed. Two dimensionless parameters that were introduced in chapter 2 play an essential role in the following discussion. These are the sag parameter, 2 = and the bending sites parameter, y = HL. a. 4.2 Qualitative Effects Experimentation with the finite element model has shown that the phenomenon of fre- quency crossover is not eliminated by the presence of bending stiffness. However, bending stiffness can have a pronounced effect on the conditions for which crossover actually occurs. a Figure 4.1 shows a plot of natural frequency vs. riod number for a catenary cable with and without bending stiffness. In the absence of bending stiffness, this cable obeys the analytical model of Irvine (see case a). Since its sag parameter, A, is equal to 6.0%, the first and third modes are completely crossed over and the fifth mode is at the crossover point, This means that the frequencies for modes five and six are identical. As bending stiffness is added, the system moves away from the crossover point at A = 6.07, and modes five and six have different frequencies (see case b). For large amounts of bending stiffness, case (c) in figure 4.1 shows that ihe third and fourth modes’ natural frequencies coincide. Effect of Bending Stifiness on Crossovers 10 x 97 | 0 Nobending stiffness # 8 + Intermediate: High bending stiffness x a7 * ° = 2.=6.0r for all three cases 7 e6 3 iar ° Bs ° 3 + a= gL Boog @y 3 Xoo 2 a8 7 ° x 2 3 & 1 o oO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Mode Number Figure 4.1: When bending stiffness is introduced, the crossover of modes 5 is ‘undone’. Eventually the crossover of mode 3 is reached. This can be thought of as a decrease in the ‘effective’ A. 28 It is possible to explain these results in terms of the static sag. As bending stiffness is introduced the system will sag less, giving a similar effect to decreasing 2. Unfortunately, it is not possible to predict the amount of bending stiffness that will cause this effect based solely on the static configuration, Note however that the change in crossovers is not the only effect caused by the addi- tion of bending stiffness. Additionally, figure 4.1 shows that, in the presence of bending stiffness, the progression of natural frequencies (far from crossover) is no longer linear. As the system becomes more influenced by bending stiffness, the progression b. omes more parabolic since the bending stiffness tends to cause the natural frequencies to increase as mode numbers squared. This should be expected based on the discussion in sections 2.2 and 2.3. It will be verified later in this paper, that above the highest crossover point, the straight beam natural frequency model is quite accurate. 4.3 Effective Sag Parameter The results described in the previous section lead naturally to consider the possibility of defining an effective A which would take into account the effect of bending stiffness on the crossovers. This has been attempted with some degree of success, and the results will be presented here. The effective A will be referred to as 2. Figure 4.2 shows the natural frequencies of a horizontal catenary with a sag parameter of approximately 7.0n. This system is beyond the crossover of the fifth mode and is approaching the crossover of the seventh mode. Based on the previous discussion, the introduction of bending stiffness will tend to decrease the effect of sag on this system. If just the right amount of bending stiffness is added, itis possible to force the fifth and sixth frequencies to identical values. We refer to this situation as having a 2, of 6.07. 29 10; © No bending stifiness + y= 1052/n'n* A= 7.0m for both cases Natural Frequency (Hz) o+ ° oF 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 B 8 WW Mode Number Figure 4.2: By adding bending stiffness, the fifth and sixth mode natural frequencies can be made identical even though A = 7.0 By trial and error, it was found that when A = 7.0n, a bending stiffness parameter of = 1052/n?n? causes the frequencies of modes five and six to be the same. This case is illus- trated in figure 4.2. Since the fifth and sixth modes cross, this situation is defined to have an effective A of 6.0m. We are interested in the crossover of the sixth mode, so we can take n=6 and calculate that y=3.0. A method for tabulating this result is developed in the next section. 4.4 The Effective Sag Plot Figure 4.3 provides a graphical method of organizing the result from the previous sec- tion in a general case. This plot can be used to approximate the 2, for a given system, The abscissa is the y parameter (section 2.3) used to quantify the amount of bending stiffness present in the cable. The value of n used in computing is always even and such that the value mis equal to the value of the Irvine 2 for the highest crossover point which is less than the actual value of A. For example, if 4.0n k+2, and equation 2.6 should be used In order to find the frequencies for modes below crossover, it is helpful to re-number the modes. This is because for cases where 2, is above 2.0n, the first mode for the catenary is the same as the second mode for the straight beam. 39 Thus, the natural frequencies for the first k modes can be approximated using: 62) for i= 1,2,3...k. This is the same as equation 2.6 except that the modes are numbered starting from the first antisymmetric mode. This approximation is best for the antisymmet- ric modes and overestimates the crossed-over symmetric modes by a small amount. The frequencies of modes k+1 and k+2 can be strongly effected by sag and the straight beam model cannot be used in general. However, the closer that 2, is to 2 crossover point, the more accurately these two frequencies can be calculated by the straight beam model For the general case, where A, is not near a crossover point, itis possible to use the straight beam equation to establish upper and lower bounds for these frequencies. In fact, an important observation is that all of the natural frequencies always lie within the region between the curves of equation 2.6 and 5.2. See the next section for specific examples. 5.3.1 Examples The first step of the process is determining the effective sag parameter. In order to avoid repetition we will take a second look at the three examples from section 4.5, for which we have already found this value. The natural frequencies for these cases are shown again in figure 5.3. The general case is case (b), so it will be treated first. The other two are special cases for which the A, is at one of the crossover points. Recall that in case (b), the sag parameter A = 6.0m and the effective sag parameter is 5.04n. For this value of 2,, modes 1 and 3 are crossed over, so we identify k to be 3. Since this case is beyond the first two crossovers, we can use equation 5.2 to calculate the fre- quencies for the first three modes. Likewise we can also calculate the frequencies for modes six and higher using equation 2.6. The intermediate modes (four and five) cannot be determined using this method. However, it is possible to bound them using the straight beam curves (see figure 5.3b). 40 2 = 6.0 forall three cases <7 O-> FEM Straight Beam wal (0) Ap=S.08n Pa 437 vation a 3 Equation S3N i a a 7 “ ehaonas i Figure 5.3: Examples showing analytical approximation to finite element model 4a Next we will examine case (a) which has no bending stiffness (EI = 0). For this case, the Irvine cable model can be used to determine the frequercies exactly. Nevertheless, we will use this example to show that method of using the straight beam model correctly reduces to the Irvine model as the bending stiffness becomes negligible. In case (a), the sag parameter, A = 6.0r, and since there is no bending stiffness, this is also the value for the effective sag parameter 2. For this case we identify k to be 5, which is the number of the highest mode that is not above its crossover point, Since k=5, the first five modes can be approximated using the renumbered straight beam model in equation 5.2. Likewise, above the crossover point, modes 8 and higher can be found using the ordi- nary straight beam model. Note that in cases with no bending stiffness, the straight beam model reduces to the straight cable model, and the frequency increase linearly with mode number. Since case (a) is a special case where 1,=6.0n is one of the crossover points nz (n= |, it is possible to approximate the modes k+1 and k+2 using the straight beam model. Mode 5 (k+1), requires the renumbered form in equation 5.2 while mode 6 can be calculated using the standard form of the straight beam frequency equation. Finally we turn to case (c), which has the highest bending stiffness. This is also a spe- cial case, since there is the right amount of bending stiffness so bring the sag parameter down to X, = 4.0m, the crossover point for the third mode. For this case we identify k to be 3, since the third mode is not above its crossover. The first three modes are found using the renumbered form of the straight beam equation, and mode six (k+3) and higher can be found using ordinary form of the straight beam equation. Since the effective sag parameter lies on a crossover point, it is possible to use the straight beam equations to estimate the frequencies of modes k+1 and k+2 (3 and 4) as well. 2 5.4 Low Sag Cables For cables with low sag such that the first natural frequency is below crossover, it is not possible to define a 2, based on the development in chapter 4. However, since many prac- tical engineering cases fall within this range, it is useful to devote special attention to this situation, Figure 5.4 detaiis the frequency of the first mode for values of the sag parameter in the range 0.8m

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