Speaker
Description
In automotive applications, cable and cable bundle structures range from single conductors and unshielded twisted cable pairs to wiring harnesses consisting of up to 100 different cable types. All mentioned structures consist of several components, which leads to complex deformation characteristics.
In this work, the mechanical behaviour of simple cable bundle structures is investigated by Finite Element (FE) simulations and experiments on twisted strands of metal wires. In applications, the observed double-helix structures are relevant in unshielded twisted cable pairs which are used to reduce electromagnetic radiation and cross talk between cable pairs. However, their electrical properties are sensitive to mechanical deformations which might influence the symmetry of the structure. Nonlinear and inelastic effects can already be observed in uncoupled planar bending and simple torsion. In reality however, states where bending and torsion are coupled occur and typically determine the three-dimensional shape of the cable structure. Hence, we aim at investigating bending, torsion and coupled loading of twisted pairs in simulations and experiments. The twisted wire strands are therefore simulated in FE using finite beam elements with quadratic shape functions, accounting for frictional contact between the wires using the approach presented in [1, 2]. The simulations’ boundary conditions are derived from those of the experiments, allowing for a comparison of simulation and experimental results by evaluating the relevant reaction forces and moments.
Acknowledgment: This work was supported within the Fraunhofer and DFG transfer programme under grant no. DI 430/37-1.
References:
[1] Hawwash, M., Dörlich, V., Linn, J., Müller, R., and Keller, R.: Effective Inelastic Bending Behavior of Multi-Wire Cables Using Finite Elements Accounting for Wire Contact. In ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics, pp. 369 – 379, Budapest, 2021.
[2] Hawwash, M., Dörlich, V., Linn, J., Keller, R., and Müller, R.: Modeling the Effective Inelastic Behavior of Multi-Wire Cables Under Mechanical Load Using Finite Elements. In European Congress on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences and Engineering, 2022.
