Static modeling of sagging cables with flexural rigidity and shear forces

Abstract

Cables are considered perfectly flexible in the classic modeling without flexural rigidity and with purely tangential cable forces. In this paper, a static modeling of cables is presented where flexural rigidity and shear forces are considered. The calculation details are presented with and without considering the axial extensibility of cables for three problems where one of the parameters including cable length, end point positions and forces is determined by knowing the two others. The effects of considering flexural rigidity and shear forces are then analyzed on a simple example of a cable-driven parallel robot consisting of a point mass attached to two cables.