Analysis of tow cables

Abstract

Hydrodynamic analysis of tow cable has an important role in the design of towed system. Cable catenary, cable depth attained for a given cable length, cable tension and angle of cable with the body are the parameters that affects the towed system related to tow cable. This paper deals with analysis of a set of commercially available cables of different properties using Orcaflex software. The cables were analysed for different payouts at different speeds. A comparative study was performed on the results obtained relating the cable properties (diameter and buoyancy). This provides a rough idea on the catenary profiles that reflects the depth and trail achieved by the cable given payout and speed.