Dry friction losses in axially loaded cables

A model of a cable comprising interacting wires with dry friction forces at the interfaces is subjected to a quasi-static cyclic loading. The first cycle of this process, comprising of axial loading, unloading and reloading is investigated analytically. Explicit load-elongation relationships are obtained for all of the above phases of the cycle. An expression for the hysteretic losses is also obtained in an explicit form. It is shown that losses are proportional to the third power of the amplitude of the oscillating axial force, and are in inverse proportion to the interwire friction forces. The results obtained are used to introduce a model of a cable as a solid rod with an equivalent stiffness and damping properties of the rod material. It is shown that the stiffness of the equivalent rod is weakly nonlinear, whereas the viscous damping coefficient is proportional to the amplitude of the oscillation. Some numerical results illustrating the effect of cable parameters on the losses are given.