Animal–resistant telecommunication cable sheath covered by a thin hard metal layer

Abstract

AbstractAerial cable lines running in forests are often damaged by animals. This paper introduces an animal‐resistant cable design by analyses of the fracture of metals when a shearing force is applied. As a result of the analyses, it is understood that when shearing forces are applied repeatedly to a metal plate without strain relaxation (similar to the case in which animals attack the cables), the metal does not fracture as long as the shearing energy is below a critical energy. This critical energy can be estimated from tensile strain at the yield point and the tensile stress at the fracture point. Therefore, it is possible to realize an animal‐resistant metal sheath by making the critical energy higher than the shearing energy which an animal can apply on one impact. It was found that the animal‐resistant cable designed and fabricated by this method could withstand animal attacks.