Suspended submarine cables are prone to likely mechanical damages due to ship anchors, which represent a significant threat to the reliability of power transmission and information communication networks. This paper is aimed at presenting a detailed investigation to the dynamic response of a ship anchor impacting the suspended section a submarine cable in order to reduce the risk of cable damage. In this regard, a three-dimensional and dual nonlinear model of the anchor affecting a subsea cable is established using ABAQUS finite element analysis software. The damage effect due to the ship anchor on the suspended and buried-in-soil sections of the cable is studied. Results show that when a ship anchor hits a suspended section of the subsea cable, the mechanical stress is concentrated at the impacted point and is progressing to both sides of the suspended section with a significant cable deformation. On the other hand, the buried section of the cable suffers from a short impact process, and the deformation is relatively small. To reduce this impact effectively, a detailed technical comparison of two common dumping and filling methods is conducted, and the better protection method is proposed.INDEX TERMS Composite submarine power cable; anchor fall impact; suspended cable and pipeline; throwing method; dent depth
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.