Affiliation:
1. Division of Marine Technology, Department of Mechanics and Maritime Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden
2. MAST Department, Université Gustave Eiffel, 44340 Bouguenais, France
3. MV Design, NKT (Sweden) AB, 79152 Falun, Sweden
Abstract
The exploitation and harnessing of offshore marine renewable energy have led to an increased demand for reliable marine power cables with long service lives. These cables constitute a considerable share of the total installation cost of offshore renewable energy facilities and have high maintenance and repair costs. The critical characteristics of these power cables must be determined to reduce the risk of exceeding their ultimate strength or fatigue life, which can result in unwanted and unexpected failures. This study investigates dynamic marine power cables that are suitable for application in devices that harness energy from ocean currents, waves, and tides. Tension, bending, torsion, and fatigue tests were conducted on three dynamic power cables (1 kV, 3.6 kV, and 24 kV) that have high flexibility, i.e., low mechanical stiffness. The specimen lengths and axial pretension force were varied during the tests. The results are discussed in terms of the mechanical fatigue degradation and ultimate design load, and the key observations and lessons learned from the tests are clarified. The study’s main contribution is the results from physical component testing of the dynamic marine power cables without metallic armors, which can be used to calibrate numerical models of this type of dynamic marine power cable in the initial design of, e.g., inter-array cables between floating wave energy converters. The benefits offered by this type of cable and the importance of the results for creating reliable numerical simulation models in the future are highlighted.
Funder
EU OceanERA-NET
Swedish Energy Agency
Agence Régionale Pays de la Loire
Subject
Ocean Engineering,Water Science and Technology,Civil and Structural Engineering
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