See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/257714209

Failure Analysis of a Drilling Wire Rope

Article in Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention · October 2012

DOI: 10.1007/s11668-012-9596-7

CITATIONS READS

9 3,972

3 authors:

Shahriar Moradi Khalil Ranjbar

Bu ali sina Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz
11 PUBLICATIONS 214 CITATIONS 58 PUBLICATIONS 600 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Hesam Makvandi

4 PUBLICATIONS 38 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Influence of heat input and type of filler metal in GTA welding on joint properties of HSLA- 100 steel View project

TIG Welding of AA6082-T651 View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Khalil Ranjbar on 09 June 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

J Fail. Anal. and Preven.
DOI 10.1007/s11668-012-9596-7
TECHNICAL ARTICLE—PEER-REVIEWED
Failure Analysis of a Drilling Wire Rope
S. Moradi • K. Ranjbar • H. Makvandi
Submitted: 5 April 2012 / in revised form: 26 June 2012
Ó ASM International 2012
Abstract The failure of a multistrand wire rope used in
drilling rig hook is investigated in this case study. The wire
rope failed during the raising of the rig and caused some
serious damage to the rig structure. Throughout its short
time of service, the wire had been used a few times for rig
up and rig down. The failure investigation is performed by
metallurgical examinations and computational analyses
utilizing the finite element method. The wire rope was
made of AISI 1095 steel. Its chemical composition, ferrite–
pearlite structure, and high hardness indicate that the wire
is a type of extra extra improved plow steel (EEIPS) grade.
The morphologies of fractured surfaces indicate tensile
overloading of wires. Finite element analysis confirms the
overload in core and strands, and compressive contact
stresses between wires, and between wires and sheave
surface. The results show that high tensile stresses due to
the overload and small ratio of sheave-to-rope diameter
were responsible for the failure.
Keywords Wire rope  Failure analysis 
Finite element method  Tensile overloading
Introduction
Wire ropes are among the most frequently used mechanical
devices in industrial applications. This is due to their high
S. Moradi (&)  H. Makvandi
Mechanical Engineering Department, Shahid Chamran
University, 61355 Ahvaz, Iran
e-mail: moradis@scu.ac.ir
K. Ranjbar
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Shahid
Chamran University, 61355 Ahvaz, Iran
tensile load capacity, low bending stiffness, and high
strength-to-weight ratio. Wire ropes are made from plain
carbon steel with high carbon content, and patented to
obtain a very fine pearlite structure (sorbite). The desired
microstructure and mechanical properties are controlled
and adjusted by carbon content of the steel and subsequent
heat treatment. The heat treatment that produces the start-
ing microstructure for wire production is termed patenting.
It consists of heating to austenite region and isothermal
holding in molten lead baths to produce the preferred fine
pearlite microstructure. Fully pearlite microstructure is
highly deformable under wire-drawing conditions [1].
There are other factors affecting wire rope properties
including, sulfur and phosphor contents, nonmetallic
inclusions, and the appearance of intermediate improper
microstructures [2].
In addition to the financial losses, failure of wire ropes
may cause catastrophic events. During the past few dec-
ades, many researchers have studied the modeling and
failure of wire ropes. Parameswaran et al. [3] investigated
the failure of the outer z-shaped wires of locked coil wire
ropes. They found that improper heat treatment during
production was the reason for layer decarburization, con-
sequently leading to the failure of the rope. Torkar and
Arzensek [4] analyzed the failure of multistrand wire rope
of a crane. They concluded that poor inspection and fatigue
due to decarburized cracks were responsible for the failure.
Mapelli and Barella [5] studied the failure of a cable way
rope. They found that the failure was initiated from
excessive pressure applied on the rope and consequently,
sliding between inner and outer layers. Singh et al. [6]
investigated the cause of failure of a wire rope used for
hoisting. The broken wire ends were consistent with tensile
failure. Based on the physical inspection, and mechanical
as well as metallurgical tests, they concluded that the cause
123

of failure was due to improper maintenance and wrong
handling of the rope. Wire ropes’ failures due to friction,
martensite or bainite, have also been reported [2, 6]. These
hard zones or spots, formed on wire surface as a thin layer,
are due to the condition of the frictional heat between wires
and sheave. The thin martensite layer may crack when the
wire is bent, initiating fatigue crack on the wire surface.
Raoof and Kraincanic [7] used a model to analyze the
large-diameter steel ropes with independent wire rope core
(IWRC). They considered the effect of friction between the
wires. Jiang et al. [8] used finite element method to analyze
wire ropes by considering the effects of tensional, shear,
torsional, and bending stiffnesses, along with the contact
and friction between wires. Stanova et al. [9, 10] used
geometric parametric equations to model some single and
multilayered strands. They used MATLAB, CATIA, and
ABAQUS software techniques to construct the finite ele-
ment models of the wire ropes. However, their analysis was
limited to simple tension loads.
In drilling industry, wire ropes have got widespread
applications, from drilling cables to hoisting in drilling
rigs. The current study investigates the cause of failure of a
drilling rig hook wire rope during the raising of the rig.
According to the information provided by the user, the wire
had been in service for two years, during which it was used
17 times for rig up and rig down. During the last job, the
wire broke; the rig fell down and caused major damages to
its structure. As a result, the rig was out of operation for a
few months causing an increased burden of the expenditure
to the drilling company. Figure 1 shows the failed wire
rope.
Physical Study
Figure 2 shows the rig up mechanism during which the
sling line cables help in raising the rig. The sling line
cables, although independent, act simultaneously to lift the
rig. They operate in such a way that a number of sheaves
need to be engaged to facilitate the movement of the ropes.
If by any means, one of the cables jumps over the sheaves,
the entire load may be imposed on the others. The obser-
vation made showed that the right-hand side cable failed
Fig. 1 Failed wire rope
123
J Fail. Anal. and Preven.
when passing through one of the sheaves as shown in
Fig. 3. The fractured wire rope was a 6 9 36 (WS) IWRC,
63.5-mm (2‘-in.) diameter with a length of 47 m made of
plain carbon steel. The typical cross section of the rope is
demonstrated in Fig. 3. Physical observation of the frac-
tured wire ends shows that all the 265 wires were broken in
the form of tensile or shear failure. Inspection revealed that
56% of wires failed by shear, and the rest failed in tension.
The type and number of failures in the core and strands are
tabulated in Table 1. It is to be noted that the majority of
the shear failures occurred in the thicker outer wires, while
all of the core wires failed in tensile mode. Besides, the
rope fractured when leaving its sheave. The sheave, with a
diameter of 660 mm (26 in.), was used to change the
direction of motion of the rope. Cross sections of the wire
rope and sheave are shown in Fig. 4.
Metallurgical Investigations
A number of samples were cut from the broken wire ropes
for chemical analyses, metallographic examinations,
hardness testing, and fractography evaluations. All the test
specimens were cleaned in acetone and distilled water,
using ultrasonic bath. For microstructural analysis, speci-
mens were mounted, polished, and etched in 2% Nital, and
to study fracture morphology, fractured surfaces were
inspected under the scanning electron microscope (SEM)
model Philips XL30. The hardness values of wire ropes
were measured at and near the broken ends using a brale
indenter (Rockwell C).
Chemical analysis of steel wire rope is presented in
Table 2. The analysis showed that it is made of high carbon
steel corresponding to AISI 1096 grade, and galvanized
with zinc to resist corrosion. The microstructures observed
under optical microscope and SEM are shown in Figs. 5
and 6. It was typical of a drawn ferrite–pearlitic steel wire
with severe plastic deformation aligned in the direction of
loading. It is very similar to the microstructures obtained in
previous studies [5, 11, 12]. Such a microstructure is
preferable since alternate lamellas of ferrite and iron car-
bide in pearlitic structure act as obstacles to slow down, or
prevent the growth of the fatigue crack. Strain hardening
also increases as a function of strain, when ferrite–carbide
lamellas are combined and closely packed [1]. Further
examination of microstructure of the failed wires did not
indicate any sign of metallurgical problems such as de-
carburized layer, nonmetallic inclusions, or martensite
formation. In addition, the wires were free from any sort of
corrosion and pitting. Therefore, corrosion had no role in
the failure of wires. This was due to the zinc coating of
wires, where in the galvanic couple of iron–zinc, even a
loss of a portion of coating does not initiate corrosion. The
J Fail. Anal. and Preven.
Fig. 2 Rig up mechanism: (a) side view and (b) top view
Fig. 3 Cross section of 6 9 36 (WS) IWRC, its core, and strands
outer surface of wires in some areas was mechanically
damaged: the damage patterns being due to mostly abra-
sion and plastic wear. In the latter case, the damage was
more evident and seen on the outer edges of the sheared
surfaces.
Table 3 represents the hardness values of the wire rope
at and nearby the broken ends. The results indicate rela-
tively high values[52 HRC. The very high hardness of the
wire rope was due to its high carbon content. The high
hardness values, chemical composition, and the pearlitic
structure of wires may indicate that this is a type of extra
extra improved plow steel (EEIPS) grade wire ropes. These
types of wires have typically 10% higher load-bearing
capacity as compared with other grades. They are consid-
ered as heavy-duty wire ropes and are primarily used in
engineering applications. The minimum tensile strength of
EEIPS is 2160 N/mm2 [13].
The fractured ends of group of wires was visually
inspected. As mentioned earlier, about 56% of wires failed
in shear, and the remaining 44% had cup-and-cone frac-
ture, some of which are shown in Fig. 7. Fractographs of
broken wires in the form of cup and cone and shear are
shown in Fig. 8. Micrographs at low and high magnifica-
tions show that wires were overloaded in tension. Tensile
overload fracture occurs when the axial load exceeds the
breaking strength of the wires. This type of fracture usually
appears in ductile manner, either in the form of cup and
cone (Figs. 7a, b, 8c) or in shear mode(Figs. 7c, d, 8a). In
the former case, there is a reduction at the fracture which is
called necking, whereas in the case of the latter, fracture
surface is inclined at 45° to the wire axis. In both cases,
ductile dimple formations are clearly observed and confirm
the tensile overloading of wires.
123
 J Fail. Anal. and Preven.

Table 1 Type of failure of wire rope

Failure Core Strand 1 Strand 2 Strand 3 Strand 4 Strand 5 Strand 6 Total

Tensile 49 12 8 12 11 14 11 117
Shear 0 24 28 24 25 22 25 148

Coalescence of microvoids results in dimple-like struc-

ture appearing on fracture surface. Dimples may vary in
size, shape, depth, and distribution. These parameters are
mainly controlled by state of stress as well as size and
density of sites at which microvoids are nucleated. In the
present fractographic examinations, it is found that mi-
crovoids are shallow, small in size, and uniformly
distributed. This confirms that iron carbides as nucleating
sites in the pearlitic structure are very fine and uniformly
distributed. Since it is a high carbon steel (AISI 1096
grade), this again indicates that their population is high.
Moreover, the state of stress influences the morphology of
the dimples. This fact is clearly shown in Fig. 8b, d, where
dimples are equiaxed and elongated, in cup-and-cone and
in shear fractures, respectively.

Computational Study

As mentioned above, the core fractured in tensile mode,

and the strands failed in shear mode. For a shear-failure
Fig. 4 Cross section of the wire rope and sheave
mode to happen, a transverse load is necessary, in addition
to the tensile or bending load. Thus, a computational
mechanical study was carried out to model the failure of
the wire rope. For this, a finite element analysis was per-
Table 2 Chemical composition of wire rope (wt.%) formed to compute the stress and deformation of the wires.
Figure 9 shows the model of the wire rope. To model the
C Mn S P Cr W Ni V Fe
sophisticated geometry of the wires, the parametric equa-
0.97 0.87 0.01 0.003 0.02 0.004 0.008 0.008 Bal. tions of the position of each wire centerline was derived.
Then, a program was written to compute the position of

Fig. 5 Longitudinal microstructures of EEIPS wire: (a) an image taken by SEM, and (b) an optical microscope image. Structure are of pearlite
and ferrite that are severely deformed and aligned in loading direction

123
J Fail. Anal. and Preven.
Fig. 6 Micrographs of transverse of EEIPS wire: (a) an optical image representing a fine ferrite–pearlite structure after etching, and (b) an image
taken by SEM with no etching. Black colonies are iron carbides distributed in white ferrite matrix
Table 3 Hardness data for EEIPS wires
Distance from broken end Broken edge 2 cm 4 cm 6 cm 8 cm
Hardness HRC 55 55 57 53
each circular wire in the core and strands. The model
considered single- and double-helix configurations of the
wires in both strands and rope. Later on, the model was
created and meshed by solid elements using ABAQUS
commercial software. To account for the friction and
contact between the wires in the strands and core, the
contact elements were added to the model. The Coulomb’s
friction law was used to model the friction between dif-
ferent parts of the model. This approach appears to provide
the results more precisely.
A dynamic analysis was carried out to compute the
tensile forces in the wire rope during the rig up. As men-
tioned earlier, the rig up mechanism consist of a couple of
wire ropes. The investigation led us to the conclusion that
one of the wire ropes jumped over the sheave (left hand
side cable), thereby imposing the total load suddenly on the
other one. It was assumed that the forces acting on
the cable were due to a portion of the rig’s weight and the
inertia force resulting from the rotational motion of the rig.
The tension in hook cable can be derived from the fol-
lowing equation:
h i
1 modeling consists of the wire rope and the sheave (which
T ¼ C Ia þ ðWrig l þ Ws l0 Þ cos h ðEq 1Þ
2
where I and a are rig mass moment of inertia and its
rotational acceleration; Wrig and Ws are the weight of the
rig and setback support; and l and l0 are the distance from
the rig and setback support mass centers to the hinge
support, respectively. C is a constant related to the position
of the pulleys in the rig, the angle between the cables of the
sling line pulley and the number of moving pulley cables.
Based on this analysis, the maximum tensile load acting on
the rope was calculated to be 650 kN. The modulus of
elasticity, the Poisson’s ratio, and the density of the wire
material were taken as 200 GPa, 0.3, and 7800 kg/m3,
55 respectively. The tensile strength of the rope, which was a
type of EEIPS, was considered as 2160 N/mm2. The
coefficient of friction between wires was in the meanwhile
assumed to be 0.2.
In this study, the load acting on the rope in the form of
pure tensile was studied first. Figure 10 shows the contours
of Von mises’ stresses. As seen in the figure, the maximum
stress does not exceed 700 MPa, which is well below the
tensile strength of the rope.
Next, considering the bending due to the presence of the
sheave, the bending stress can be approximated from the
following equation [14]:
dwire
rbmax ¼ E ðEq 2Þ
D
where E is the modulus of elasticity, dwire is the diameter of
the central wire of the strands, and D is the sheave diam-
eter. The equation shows that the bending stress is
inversely proportional to the ratio of the D/dwire, indicating
that increasing the sheave diameter results in decreasing
the bending stress. Using a sheave with a diameter of
660 mm, the bending stress was determined to be
1026 MPa, which is higher than the computed tensile stress
due to pure tension. Considering this fact, the effect of the
sheave needs to be taken into account. Therefore, the new
in this case is unfitted). The model was created and meshed
by solid elements. To account for the friction and contact
between the strands and sheave, the contact elements were
added to the model. The finite element model of the wires
and sheave is shown in Fig. 11. The coefficient of friction
between the strands and sheave was assumed to be 0.2, too.
As for the boundary conditions, the upper end of the rope
was fixed, and the load was evenly distributed and applied
to the wires at the other end, with the sheave being
123
 J Fail. Anal. and Preven.

Fig. 7 Typical pictures of the broken ends of wires: (a, b) cup-and-cone tensile failure, and (c, d) shear failure

Fig. 8 Micrographs of the fracture surface: (a, b) wires broken in shear at low and high magnifications, respectively. In the former, inclined
facture surface, and in the latter elongated dimples are shown; (c) Cup part of a cup and cone fracture and (d) ductile dimple formations at the cup
portion taken by SEM

123
J Fail. Anal. and Preven.
prevented from rotating around its center. As shown in
Fig. 12, the analysis was carried out in two steps. At the
first step, using appropriate boundary conditions, the
straight wire rope was bent around the sheave, while at
Fig. 9 Model of the 6 9 36 wire rope
Fig. 10 Contours of Von mises’ stresses of a section of the wire rope
in pure tension
Fig. 12 Two-step finite
elements analysis
the second step, the dynamic tensile load was applied to the
bent rope. It was assumed that the load reached its maxi-
mum value in a short period of time (sudden load). Also,
the wire material was assumed to behave in an elastic–
linear plastic manner. Figure 13 shows the contours of the
maximum principal stress distribution along the wire rope
longitudinal axis for the problem at the end of the second
stage. Based on the figure, it can be seen that the maximum
stresses happen in the core in the form of tensile stress.
Therefore, the wires in the core (with higher stress than
those in strands) are the first to fail in the form of tensile
failure. The results are in good agreement with the data
given in Table 1, where it shows that all of the wires of the
core had failed in the form of cup and cone. Figure 14
shows the stress contours for cross sections of the wire rope
at different distances from the fixed end. The figure dem-
onstrates that the stress distribution vary depending on the
orientation of the strands relative to the sheave. The con-
tours of maximum and minimum principal stresses for a
plane with maximum deformation are presented in Fig. 15.
The figure shows that there are a lot of distortions in the
shape of the wires due to unfitted groove of the sheave.
Besides, as expected and shown in Fig. 15a, the maximum
principal stress is high in the core. Furthermore, Fig. 15b
clearly demonstrates the compressive contact stresses
between the wires, and the wires in contact with the sheave.
The contacts between the wires, and between the wires and
unfitted sheave produced compressive stresses, along
Fig. 11 The finite element model of the wire rope and sheave
123

which high-tension load resulted in ease of the shear failure
in the wires of the strands. The grooves of the sheave
should have an adequate amount of clearance for the wire
rope to prevent it from being distorted, and provide enough
circumferential support for the free movement of the
strands.
Fig. 13 The maximum principal stresses of the wire rope
Fig. 14 Stress distributions for cross sections of the wire rope at different distances from the fixed end: (a) 580 mm, (b) 600 mm, (c) 620 mm,
and (d) 640 mm
123
J Fail. Anal. and Preven.
The high level of tensile stress can also be related to the
presence of the small pitch diameter of the sheave. If the
wire rope operates over the largest possible sheave-to-rope
diameter ratio, then its service life can significantly
improve. In fact, because of the small sheave diameter, the
high bending stress results in higher tension in the rope (see
Eq 2). Further examination revealed that the ratio of
sheave pitch diameter to wire rope diameter was 10.4,
instead of 18 which is the minimum value, and 23 which is
the recommended value specified by API 9B standard [15].
Using these recommended values leads to considerable
reduction in bending stresses. Therefore, combination of
small pitch diameter of the sheave and sudden load can
justify the high normal stresses in the wires.
Conclusions
The failure of the wire rope of a drilling rig hook during the
rig up was studied. In order to investigate the problem,
J Fail. Anal. and Preven.
Fig. 15 Stresses of a section of the wire rope: (a) maximum principal
and (b) minimum principal
metallurgical and mechanical post failure analyses were
performed. The wire rope was made of AISI 1096 grade
steel, and it was a type of EEIPS. The microstructure was
composed of heavily deformed and elongated ferrite–pearl-
ite, and no other phase formation or nonmetallic inclusions
could be detected. The morphologies of fractured surfaces
indicated that the wires mainly failed in shear and tensile
modes, confirming tensile overloading of wires. Owing to
galvanized coating, the wires were free from corrosion.
A detailed finite element analysis of wire rope and its
sheave was performed to check the state of the stress in the wire
View publication stats
rope. The positions of each circular wire in the core and
strands was derived considering the single- and double-helix
configurations of the wires. The finite element analysis took
into account the friction and the contacts between the wires
in the strands and core, and between strands and sheave. The
finite element analysis results showed that the maximum
principal stress was the highest in the core. Moreover, the
bending stress due to sheave and the compressive stress due
to contacts significantly increased the state of the stress in the
wire rope.
It was found that the tensile over load, along with the
unfitted small sheave, was responsible for the premature
failure of the wire rope. The tensile overload was due to a
combination of sudden load and small pitch diameter of the
sheave. Therefore, the use of standard groove and large
diameter sheave, together with the control of the amount of
the overload, is recommended.
References
1. Steels: Processing, Structure and Performance (#05140G). ASM
International, Ohio (2005)
2. Yilmaz, M.: Failure during the production and usage of steel
wires. J. Mater. Proc. Tech. 171, 894–902 (2006)
3. Parameswaran, P., Raghunathan, V.S., Hiremath, S.C., Paknikar,
K.R.: Failure of locked coil wire rope of coal handling system.
Eng. Fail. Anal. 10, 395–404 (2003)
4. Torkar, M., Arzensek, B.: Failure of crane wire rope. Eng. Fail.
Anal. 9, 227–233 (2002)
5. Mapelli, C., Barella, S.: Failure analysis of a cableway rope. Eng.
Fail. Anal. 16, 1666–1673 (2009)
6. Singh, M.K., Mahto, A., Thakur, R.N.: Failure analysis of wire
rope used for hoisting in mining: a case study. J. Fail. Anal. Prev.
7, 87–91 (2007)
7. Raoof, M., Kraincanic, I.: Analysis of large diameter wire rope.
J. Eng. Mech. 121, 667–675 (1995)
8. Jiang, W.G., Henshall, J.L., Walton, J.M.: A concise finite ele-
ment model for three-layered straight wire rope strand. Int.
J. Mech. Sci. 42, 63–86 (2000)
9. Stanova, E., Fedorko, G., Fabian, M., Kmet, S.: Computer
modeling of wire strands and ropes part I: theory and computer
implementation. Adv. Eng. Softw. 42, 305–315 (2011)
10. Stanova, E., Fedorko, G., Fabian, M., Kmet, S.: Computer
modeling of wire strands and ropes part II: finite element-based
applications. Adv. Eng. Softw. 42, 322–331 (2011)
11. Miller, B.A.: Failure analysis of wire rope. Adv. Mater. Proc.
157, 6–43 (2000)
12. Krishnadev, M., Larouche, M., Lakshmanan, W.I., Sridhar, R.:
Failure analysis of failed wire rope. J. Fail. Anal. Prev. 10,
341–348 (2000)
13. API, Specification for Wire Rope, API Spec 9A, 25th edn.
American Petroleum Institute, Washington (2004)
14. Phillips, J.W., Costello, G.A.: Analysis of wire ropes
with internal-wire-rope cores. J. App. Mech. 52, 510–516
(1985)
15. API, Recommended Practice on Application, Care, and Use of
Wire Rope for Oilfield Service, RP 9B, 11th edn. American
Petroleum Institute, Washington (2002)
123