Experimental Study and Fatigue Analysis of Vortex-Induced Vibration of Umbilical Cable Considering Internal Friction

Abstract

In order to investigate the effect of internal friction of umbilical cable on its vortex-induced vibration (VIV) responses, the experimental study on VIV of bond umbilical cable (BUC) and un-bond umbilical cable (UBUC) was carried out in an experimental tank. A current generator in the laboratory simulated the uniform current, and the current velocities were observed in real time by using a Doppler Velocimeter. In addition, different sizes of top tension were applied to the umbilical cable model. The VIV responses of the umbilical cable model were measured by using Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) strain sensors. The displacement responses of umbilical cable model were reconstructed based on the experimental strain data processed by modal superposition method. In this paper, the traveling wave characteristics, the spatial-temporal distribution characteristics of frequency and fatigue damage of the BUC and UBUC under VIV are studied. The experimental results show that there are obvious differences between BUC and UBUC in the response characteristics of VIV. The UBUC appears the traveling wave sooner than BUC, but its standing wave characteristics are more obvious than those of BUC at high velocities. Compared with BUC, the spatial-temporal distribution of UBUC frequencies appears wide-band distribution sooner, but has narrower bandwidth in the “lock-in” state. The level of fatigue damage of BUC was approximately the same as that of UBUC.