Received: 16 November 2023 Revised: 20 January 2024 Accepted: 14 February 2024 IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution

DOI: 10.1049/gtd2.13133

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Fluid–structure interaction simulation and optical fibre stress

analysis of submarine cables in vortex-induced vibration

Haotian Tan1 Yanpeng Hao1 Yining Zhang2 Peng Zhang1 Qishun Li1
Lin Yang1 Licheng Li1

1
School of Electric Power Engineering, South China
University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
2
Maintenance & Test Center of EHV Power
Transmission Company, China Southern Power
Grid, Guangzhou, China
Correspondence
Yanpeng Hao, School of Electric Power
Engineering, South China University of Technology,
Guangzhou 510640, China.
Email: yphao@scut.edu.cn
Funding information
Smart Grid Joint Fund Key Project between
National Natural Science Foundation of China and
State Grid Corporation, Grant/Award Number:
U1766220
Abstract
Under the current scouring, submarine cables are prone to be exposed, suspended, and
even vortex-induced vibration (VIV), threatening their mechanical and electrical proper-
ties. In this contribution, a finite element simulation model of 110-kV single-core optical
fibre composite submarine cable is established. The natural frequency and resonant fre-
quency of the model are obtained through wet mode analysis and harmonic response
analysis. Then the VIV is simulated by the fluid–structure coupling method. Moreover,
the stress extraction method of the torsional optical fibre position under the VIV is pro-
posed. The results show that when the reduced speed is 2.57, the submarine cable appears
beating vibration, which is composed of two vibrations with similar frequencies. When the
reduced speed is 7.08, the vibration frequency is about 7.813 Hz, causing a rapid increase in
vibration amplitude. The stress distribution of the torsional optical fibre presents a mirror
image relationship at two moments separated by half a vibration cycle. Also, the frequency
of stress change is the same as the frequency of VIV, which can judge whether the VIV
occurs. The VIV range and position can be determined by the location where the stress
changes the most.

1 INTRODUCTION ing the submarine cable exposed or even suspended on the

With the growth of global energy demand, the process of new
energy construction including wind energy, solar energy, and
so on, is constantly accelerating. Wind energy as a high-quality
renewable energy is valued by all countries in the world [1, 2].
The ‘Global wind report 2022’ points out that the new installed
capacity of global offshore wind power will reach 21.1 GW in
2021, with China accounting for 80% [3].
Because of the vigorous development of offshore wind
power, the submarine cable becomes more and more impor-
tant as the main equipment of offshore power transmission
[4–6]. Until 2019, the total length of global submarine cables
exceeds 1.2 × 106 km [7]. However, the working environment
of submarine cables is complex and changeable, which is eas-
ily affected by natural disasters and offshore operations. Under
the action of ocean current, the surface soil of the seabed
where the submarine cable is located will be washed away, mak-
seabed [8]. Previous studies have shown that the submarine
cable route of the Hainan networking system has been sur-
veyed many times and found that the submarine cable in the
Qiongzhou Strait has been exposed or even suspended in many
places due to scouring from ocean currents [9]. Furthermore,
the suspended span section of the submarine cable is prone to
vortex-induced vibration (VIV) under the action of constant
ocean currents. When the shedding frequency of the vortex is
close to the natural frequency of the structure, the vibration
in the cross-flow direction will become very significant, and
this phenomenon is called vortex-induced resonance [10]. VIV
will cause abrasion and mechanical fatigue of the submarine
cable, and the long-term scouring will affect the safety of power
transmission.
Distributed optical fibre sensing technology is usually used to
monitor the temperature, strain, vibration, and acoustic waves
of submarine cables [11–14], which has the advantages of high

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© 2024 The Authors. IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Institution of Engineering and Technology.

IET Gener. Transm. Distrib. 2024;18:1391–1403. wileyonlinelibrary.com/iet-gtd 1391


1392
precision, wide range, and real-time monitoring. Therefore, it
is necessary to study the mechanical response of the subma-
rine cable and the stress distribution at the optical fibre position
when the VIV occurs.
Currently, VIV is mainly studied by scholars around the world
in the simulation of cylindrical and marine suspended span
pipelines [15–17]. However, there are few studies on the VIV of
submarine cables. Also, due to the limitations of test conditions,
scholars mostly use finite element method or scaled experiment
to analyze the VIV of submarine cable. In 2015, Pan et al.
compared the VIV characteristics of submarine cable in a piggy-
back configuration and the same submarine cable with a free
suspension span [18]. Then the amplitude, displacement, and
strain characteristics of submarine cable in piggy-back configu-
ration and free-span submarine cable are obtained. It is found
that the vortex-induced lift force is the main cause of vertical
vibration, but the model is simplified, and there is no model
for each layer of the submarine cable structure. In 2022, Lv
et al. adopted the model similarity theory to establish the finite
element scaled model of 110-kV optical fibre composite subma-
rine cable [19]. Through the fluid–structure coupling method,
the VIV of the cable at different flow velocities was studied,
and the lift coefficient, VIV amplitude, and frequency were
obtained. The results show that the transverse amplitude of VIV
is much larger than that in the flow direction. When vortex-
induced resonance occurs, the transverse vibration amplitude
is much greater than that of non-resonance, but the mechani-
cal response analysis of each layer and optical fibre is lacking.
In 2023, Zhu et al. conducted a laboratory study on VIV of a
free spanning submarine power cable in steady currents [20].
The scaled laboratory model is designed based on the grav-
ity similarity and elastic similarity with the geometric similarity
ratio of 1:7. The results show that, when the reduced velocity
is in the range of 3 to 5, the frequency of VIV is close to the
natural frequency fn , and in the range of 5 to 9, the maximum
reaches 1.3 times of fn . The displacement of VIV increases with
the increase of flow velocity, and the maximum displacement
reaches 0.8 D.
In the above studies, there is a lack of finite element mod-
elling of the submarine cable model according to the actual size
and layered structure. Moreover, the mechanical responses of
each structural layer and optical fibre during the VIV of sub-
marine cables are unclear, which is unfavourable to evaluate the
VIV of submarine cables with optical fibre sensing signals.
In this paper, a finite element simulation model of 110-kV
single-core optical fibre composite submarine cable is estab-
lished by the actual dimension. The fluid–structure coupling
method and finite element simulation are used to analyze the
VIV of the 110-kV optical fibre composite submarine cable,
and the natural frequency and resonance frequency of the wet
mode are calculated. Then the time-frequency characteristics of
the VIV of submarine cable as well as the stress distribution
and nephogram of each structural layer are studied. Moreover,
a method for extracting the stress of torsional optical fibre is
proposed, and the length-time-stress distribution of torsional
optical fibre position is studied.
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TAN ET AL.
2 HYDRODYNAMIC THEORY
2.1 Lift coefficient and drag coefficient
The periodic force of vortex shedding on the submarine cable
in the transverse direction (perpendicular to the flow direction)
is called vortex-induced lift. In the vortex generation and sep-
aration process, the submarine cable will also be subjected to
resistance in the flow direction. Generally, two dimensionless
proportional coefficients are used to describe the force on the
body in the fluid. The larger the lift coefficient and drag coef-
ficient, the greater the lift and drag of the object, which can be
calculated by the following formula:
2FL
CL = , (1)
𝜌U 2 S
2FD
CD = . (2)
𝜌U 2 S
where FL and FD are lift and drag force, respectively, N; ρ is
the fluid density, kg/m3 ; and U is the fluid flow velocity, m/s.
The value of S is the product of the diameter and length of the
submarine cable, m.
2.2 Vortex shedding frequency
The frequency of vortex shedding can be obtained by the
Fourier transform of the time-domain signal of the lift coef-
ficient and can also be calculated by the following formula:
Sr U
fn = . (3)
D
where D is the diameter of the submarine cable, m; Sr is the
Strouhal number, which is used to characterize the relationship
between vortex shedding frequency, flow velocity, and cylinder
diameter. In a specific range of Reynolds number, Sr is constant
[21].
2.3 Reduced velocity
When describing VIV of submarine cables, the reduced veloc-
ity is often used instead of the flow velocity. Within a certain
range of reduced velocity, the submarine cable will reach the
resonance state. Some scholars have studied the reduced veloc-
ity range of VIV with maximum amplitude [22, 23], which is
generally 5 < Ur < 7. The reduction speed can be calculated by
the following equation:
U
Ur = . (4)
D fn
where fn is the natural frequency of the submarine cable, Hz.
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TAN ET AL. 1393

FIGURE 1 Cross-section structure of the submarine cable.

3 SIMULATION MODEL

In this paper, the fluid–solid coupling simulation model is

established and solved based on the finite element simulation
software ANSYS. Among them, the fluid flow field is based on
the Fluent module, and the solid structure is based on the Tran-
sient Structural module. They are iteratively solved through the
system coupling module.

3.1 Establish the finite element model

In this paper, a 110-kV single-core XLPE (cross-linked

polyethylene) insulated optical fibre composite submarine cable
is used for simulation modelling, which cross-section is shown FIGURE 2 Schematic diagram of meshing: (a) Cross-section of the
in Figure 1a. In order to reduce the difficulty of simulation simplified model, (b) meshing of the submarine cable model, (c) meshing of
calculation, the model is reasonably simplified. According to the fluid flow field, (d) cross-section of the fluid flow field.
the principle of a similar combination of material mechanical
parameters [19], XLPE insulation, inner shield, outer shield, TABLE 1 Structural dimensions of submarine cable.
and water blocking tape are combined. Also, HDPE (high
density polyethylene) sheath is combined with asphalt anti- Thickness Outer diameter
Component (mm) (mm)
corrosion coating, and the polyethylene (PE) filling layer is
combined with PP (polypropylene) lining layer. Then, the sim- Copper conductor —— 22
plified submarine cable comprises seven layers, including a XLPE insulation 16.5 55
copper conductor, XLPE insulation layer, lead alloy sheath, Lead alloy sheath 4.8 64.9
HDPE sheath, polyethylene (PE) filling layer (including optical
HPDE sheath 3.3 71.5
fibre), steel wire armour, and outer sheath, arranged from the
inside to the outside, as shown in Figure 2a. PE filling layer (Including 7.4 86.4
optical fibre)
The model of the considered submarine cable has a length
of 7.7 m and a diameter of 110 mm. In order to visually char- Steel wire armour 6.3 99
acterize the deformation of the submarine cable at different Outer sheath 5.5 110
positions, the diameter D and the span length L of the sub-
HDPE, high density polyethylene; PE, polyethylene; XLPE, cross-linked polyethylene.
marine cable are used as the dimensional parameters of the
deformation. The dimensions and material physical parameters
of each layer are shown in Tables 1 and 2 [19], respectively. the submarine cable and sea water is set as the fluid–solid
coupling boundary, which is used to transfer displacement infor-
mation from solid to fluid, and the gravity acceleration is set
3.2 Boundary condition for the submarine cable. To reduce the difficulty of simulation,
this paper only studies the VIV phenomenon of suspended
When solving the fluid–structure interaction model, it is nec- submarine cables, without considering the erosion process of
essary to impose boundary conditions and initial conditions on soil.
the multiphysical model. The fixed support constraints are set The fluid flow field is set as a rectangular cuboid with a length
on both the ends of the submarine cable to simulate the end of 7700 mm, a depth of 40 mm, and a width of 60 mm. Among
of the suspended span section. Then, the interface between it, the length of the fluid flow field should be consistent with the
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1394 TAN ET AL.

TABLE 2 Materials physical parameters of submarine cable.

Poisson’s Young’s modulus Density Dynamic

Material ratio (Pa) (kg⋅m−3 ) viscosity (Pa⋅s)

Water —— —— 1020 0.001

Copper conductor 0.36 1.169 × 1011 8900 ——
XLPE insulation 0.46 8.8 × 108 930 ——
Lead alloy sheath 0.42 9.78 × 109 11,360 ——
HPDE sheath 0.46 3.025 × 108 950 ——
PE filling layer (Including 0.46 3.22 × 108 950 ——
optical fibre)
Steel wire armour 0.29 1.97 × 1011 7800 ——
Outer sheath 0.46 1.55 × 109 1000 ——

HDPE, high-density polyethylene; PE, polyethylene; XLPE, cross-linked polyethylene.

length of the submarine cable. Then, the setting of width and boundary conditions on the fluid–solid coupling boundary [24,
height is to save computational resources as much as possible 25].
while ensuring that the submarine cable has sufficient vibra- The mass conservation equation and the momentum conser-
tion range and can display vortex changes. Then the fluid inlet, vation equation of the fluid can be written as follows:
outlet, and fluid boundary are set, and the fluid–structure cou-
pling interface is set for the fluid force transfer from the fluid ( )
∇ ⋅ 𝜌 f v = 0. (5)
to the solid. Also, the flow type is set to shear stress trans-
fer (SST) (k−ω) turbulent flow. Besides, gravity and buoyancy dv
are applied to the fluid flow field, and the flow velocity is set 𝜌f = −∇P + 𝜌 f g + 𝜇∇2 v. (6)
dt
to 1.6 and 4.4 m/s, respectively. According to Equation (4),
the reduced velocities are 2.57 and 7.08, respectively. The flow where 𝜌 f is the fluid density, kg/m3 ; v is the fluid velocity vector,
velocity is set to simulate a non-resonant state and a resonant m/s; g is the gravitational acceleration vector, m/s2 ; μ is the
state respectively for comparative analysis. dynamic viscosity, Pa⋅s; t is the time, s.
The equations of the solid structure and the basic equations
of transient dynamics can be written as follows:
3.3 Meshing

The fluid flow field and the solid structure are meshed, respec- 𝜌s ds′′ = ∇ ⋅ 𝜎s + fs . (7)
tively. The element order is set as linear element. As shown in { } { }
Figures 2a and b, the submarine cable in a solid structure is [M ] u′′ + [C ] u′ + [K ] { u} = { F (t )} . (8)
divided into symmetrical and regular structured grids based on
the mechanical structure, and the outermost grid is divided into where 𝜌s is the fluid density, kg/m3 ; fs is the body force vec-
three layers. As shown in Figures 2c and d, in order to ensure the tor, N; σs is the Cauchy stress tensor, Pa; ds′′ is the acceleration
simulation accuracy of the near-wall fluid flow field around the vector, m/s2 ; [M ] is the mass matrix, [C ] is the damping
submarine cable and minimize the amount of simulation calcu- matrix, [K ] is the stiffness matrix, {u′′ } is the nodal accel-
lation, the fluid flow field is divided into the internal fluid flow eration vector, m/s2 ; {u′ } is the nodal velocity vector, m/s;
field and the external fluid flow field. The surface grid size of {u} is the nodal displacement vector, m; {F (t )} is the load
the internal fluid flow field is set to 5 mm, and the surface grid vector, kg.
size of the external fluid flow field is set to 30 mm. They are uni- The boundary conditions on the fluid–solid coupling
formly divided into the hexahedral sweep grid, and the length is boundary are to ensure that the stress and displace-
set as 50 mm. Besides, the boundary layer of the fluid–solid cou- ment at the interface are equal, which can be written as
pling interface is divided into 15 layers, and the grid size of the follows:
first layer is set to 4 × 10−2 mm.
{
𝜏 f ⋅ n f = 𝜏s ⋅ ns
. (9)
3.4 Governing equations d f = ds

The fluid–solid coupling simulation is based on the conserva- where 𝜏 f and 𝜏s are the stress tensor of the fluid and solid, Pa; n f
tion equations of the fluid flow field, the equations of the solid and ns are the normal vector, and d f and ds are the displacement
structure, the basic equations of transient dynamics, and the of the fluid and solid, m.

TAN ET AL.
3.5 Coupled solution
The model is solved by an iterative method, and the gov-
erning equations in the fluid–structure interaction model are
decoupled equations. In each iterative step, the fluid dynamics
equations and solid mechanics equations are solved separately
and then interactively updated with each other through an
iterative process.
Considering that the submarine cable will have a large
displacement, the solution step size of the fluid–structure inter-
action model is set to 0.002 s. Therefore, the implicit time
integration method is set to linearize and solve the fluid–solid
coupling equation to ensure the stability and accuracy of the
numerical solution.
4 SIMULATION METHOD
Based on the above finite element model and the hydrody-
namic theory, we analyze the wet mode of the submarine
cable model and obtain the natural frequency of the subma-
rine cable in the seawater. Then the resonance frequency of
the model is determined by acoustic harmonic response anal-
ysis. Finally, the fluid–structure coupling calculation is carried
out to obtain the time-frequency characteristics of the VIV.
Besides, the mechanical response characteristics of the opti-
cal fibre position and each layer of the submarine cable are
analyzed.
4.1 Natural frequency of submarine cable
Modal analysis is a method to study the dynamic characteristics
of structures, which is generally used in the field of engineering
vibration. Modal refers to the natural vibration characteristics
of mechanical structures. Each mode has a specific natural fre-
quency, damping ratio, and mode shape. Moreover, the wet
modal analysis is the modal analysis considering the liquid–solid
interaction.
When performing finite element analysis, the structural
model is approximately regarded as composed of a finite num-
ber of micro rigid bodies. The micro-rigid body has 6 degrees
of freedom, so the first six natural frequencies of the object are
generally analyzed.
4.2 Resonance frequency of submarine
cable
Resonance is the response of the system when it is excited
by external excitation, which is characterized by large ampli-
tude vibration. At this time, the external excitation frequency
is the same or very close to the natural frequency of the
system. In this paper, acoustic harmonic response analysis
is used to obtain the resonance frequency of the submarine
cable.
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1395
FIGURE 3 Optical fibre torsion path distribution diagram of submarine
cable: (a) Flow direction and eight paths, (b) extraction path of stress
distribution in torsional optical fibre.
4.3 Fluid–structure coupling analysis
4.3.1 Fluid flow field analysis
In order to analyze the simulation results of the fluid flow field,
the lift coefficient curve is set in the report of the fluid mod-
ule. At the same time, the XY plane is set to extract the vortex
nephogram at different moments of the submarine cable under
VIV.
4.3.2 Solid structure analysis
To analyze the simulation results in the solid structure, the total
deformation nephogram is set in the transient structure mod-
ule to study the overall displacement of the submarine cable
under VIV. At the same time, the axial sampling path on the
surface of the submarine cable is set to obtain the axial dis-
placement distribution of the submarine cable. In addition, the
transverse amplitude at different times is extracted for drawing
the transverse amplitude time domain curve and vibration fre-
quency analysis. When in the first and second mode shapes, the
maximum value of the transverse vibration amplitude appears
in the middle of the submarine cable.
4.3.3 Mechanical response analysis of
vortex-induced vibration
It is crucial to analyze the mechanical response of VIV subma-
rine cables. Firstly, an axial sampling path is set in the steel wire
armour layer to compare the axial stress distribution under dif-
ferent flow velocities. Then, the axial sampling paths are set in
different structural layers to compare the stress distribution of
different structural layers. Finally, the axial sampling paths are
set at the position of 0◦ and 90◦ , respectively. The vibration
cycle is set from when the transverse amplitude of the sub-
marine cable reaches its positive peak value to the next time it
reaches its positive peak value. Then the stress distribution at
different moments is extracted to obtain the change of stress
distribution at each position under one vibration cycle, and the
position selections are shown in Figure 3a. In addition, the stress
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1396 TAN ET AL.

component used for the analysis in this paper is the equivalent

stress (Von-Mises).

4.4 Torsional optical fibre stress extraction

method

To save computational resources, the simplified submarine cable

model does not actually model optical fibre. Therefore, this
paper proposed a method to obtain the torsional fibre stress
and so on.
In this paper, the cable pitch d of the torsional optical fibre in
the submarine cable model is set as 1925 mm, and four cycles
are twisted in the cable model with a length of 7700 mm. The
optical fibre length Lo has the following relationship with the
cable length L:

C
L0 = ndo =nd sec𝜃 = L sec 𝜃, 𝜃 = arctan (10)
d

where n is the number of torsion cycles, and C is the circumfer-

ence of the circle corresponding to the outer diameter of the
PE filling layer (including optical fibre). In this paper, when
the cable pitch d is 1925 mm, the optical fibre length d0 is
1940.9 mm. L and d are selected to facilitate the simulation and
analysis of VIV stress, which is applicable to submarine cables
with different L and d.
As shown in Figure 3, eight paths are set at 45◦ intervals on
the PE filling layer where the optical fibre is located, and 33
sampling points are set for each path. With the midpoint of the
submarine cable surface being scoured by the flow as 0◦ , the
next sampling point of the next path is connected sequentially
in a cycle of 0◦ to 360◦ to obtain the torsional fibre stress distri-
bution path. There are eight sampling points within the torsion
pitch d of each cable, and the interval between each sampling
point is 242.6 mm, which is smaller than the spatial resolution
of the current general optical fibre sensing stress. The optical
fibre stress in this paper is the stress value of a point on the
sampling path. By extracting the stress at each sampling point
on the torsion path at different times in a vibration cycle, the
stress distribution of the torsion fibre position along the cable
length can be obtained.

4.5 Mesh independence verification

The cable model is simulated after mesh refinement, and the

number of elements after refinement is about 1.6 and 3.3 times
of the original in the fluid flow field and the solid structure.
Then, the displacement distribution and steel wire armor stress
distribution of the two models are compared at the same time.
The results of the finite element (FE) mesh independence tests
are shown in Table 3. The comparison of mesh refinement and FIGURE 4 Comparison of simulation results at the same time before and
simulation results are shown in Figure 4. It can be seen from the after mesh refinement: (a) mesh of the original solid structure, (b) mesh of the
refinement solid structure, (c) mesh of the original fluid flow field, (d) mesh of
figure that the distribution of displacement and steel wire armor
the refinement fluid flow field, (e) displacement distribution of the original
stress is almost the same for the two models at the same time. model, (f) stress distribution of the original model, (g) displacement
At the same time, the maximum displacement change is only distribution of the refinement model, (h) encrypted model stress distribution.
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TAN ET AL. 1397

TABLE 3 The results of the FE mesh independence tests.

Maximum Maximum stress

Result displacement (m) (Pa)

Before mesh refinement 0.0027535 1.7976 × 107

After mesh refinement 0.0027791 1.7889 × 107
Error 0.7% 1.3%

TABLE 4 Natural frequency calculation results of submarine cable. FIGURE 5 Frequency domain analysis of submarine cable: (a) Resonance
Natural frequency, (b) FFT of lift coefficient.
Modal frequency (Hz) Mode shape

1 5.65 XZ plane
2 5.67 YZ plane
6 and 31 Hz, which are close to the first, second, fifth, and sixth
natural frequencies of the wet mode analysis, respectively.
3 15.55 XZ plane
4 15.61 YZ plane
5 30.42 XZ plane 5.3 Fluid–structure coupling analysis
6 30.52 YZ plane
5.3.1 Fluid flow field analysis

According to the fluid–structure coupling calculation results,

0.7% and the maximum stress change is only 1.3%. Therefore,
the elements quantity of the original model is appropriate. In
addition, the mesh refinement greatly increases the difficulty of
simulation calculation, and the iteration time is about four times
of the original model.
5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
5.1 Natural frequency of submarine cable
The natural frequencies of submarine cables in seawater are
shown in Table 4. It can be seen from the table that the first
six natural frequencies of the submarine cable model are dis-
tributed in the range of 0 to 35 Hz. At the same time, due to the
symmetry of the model, its modes also show that the natural
frequencies of every two orders are almost the same, and there
are only differences in the mode shapes. The mode shapes are
distributed in the YZ and XZ planes and symmetrically about
the middle position.
Among them, the amplitude in the middle of the first and
second modes is the largest. Further, the amplitude of the third
and fourth modes at 1/4 L and 3/4 L is the largest. Also, the
fifth and sixth modes has the largest amplitude at 1/6 L, 1/2 L,
and 5/6 L.
5.2 Resonance frequency of submarine
cable
The acoustic harmonic response analysis is carried out accord-
ing to the natural frequencies calculated by the wet mode
analysis of submarine cables. The results are shown in Figure 5a.
It can be seen that the first and second resonant frequencies are
when the reduced velocities are 2.57 and 7.08, respectively, the
nephograms of vortex discharge at different times are shown
in Figure 6. It can be seen from the nephogram that the vor-
tex is in the process of discharge, and the flow velocity on the
upper and lower surfaces of the submarine cable is relatively
fast. When the reduced velocity is 2.57, the vortex discharge is
relatively smooth, and when the reduced velocity is 7.08, the
vortex discharge is more rapid, and the wake flow becomes
unstable.
Furthermore, the vortex shedding is p type at a velocity of
1.6 m/s. However, it seems that regular vortex shedding cannot
be formed at a velocity of 4.4 m/s.
In order to obtain the frequencies of vortex discharge at dif-
ferent flow velocities, the lift coefficient curve is obtained by the
calculation results of the fluid flow field, and the frequency dis-
tribution is obtained after Fourier analysis. It can be seen from
Figure 5b that the frequency of lift coefficient at the reduced
velocity of 7.08 has the maximum peak at 7.813 Hz. At the
reduced velocity of 2.57, the phenomenon of beat vibration
occurs [10], and the peak frequencies are 4.395 and 5.859 Hz,
respectively.
5.3.2 Solid structure analysis
When the reduced velocities are 2.57 and 7.08, respectively, the
submarine cable is subject to a regular lift and drag force due
to VIV. Then the structure of each layer is subject to different
degrees of force and displacement because of the periodic vibra-
tion. To observe the displacement distribution, the submarine
cable model’s VIV displacement distribution nephograms at dif-
ferent velocities are shown in Figures 7a and b. As seen from the
figure, the displacement of the centre point of the model is max-
imum. The maximum total displacement is about 0.215 D at the

1398
FIGURE 6 Nephogram of vortex discharge at the middle section of the submarine cable under different reduced velocities: (a) 2.57, (b) 7.08.
reduced velocity of 2.57. When the reduced velocity is 7.08, and
the locking phenomenon occurs. At this time, the displacement
amplitude is large, and the maximum total displacement is about
0.945 D.
At the same time, the axial displacement distribution of sub-
marine cable at a specific time is extracted. It can be seen from
Figure 7c that the axial displacement of the submarine cable
under the two flow velocities increases first and then decreases
along the cable, which is symmetrically distributed and belongs
to the first-order vibration mode.
Since the VIV mainly significantly impacts the submarine
cable in the transverse direction, the transverse variation ampli-
tude of the VIV with time is extracted. As seen from Figure 8a,
when the reduced velocities are 2.57 and 7.08, respectively, the
transverse vibration amplitude of VIV increases first and then
stabilizes gradually. The maximum transverse vibration ampli-
tude is 0.202 and 0.918 D, respectively. Because the gravity of
the submarine cable is larger than buoyancy, the negative peak
value of transverse vibration amplitude is greater than the pos-
itive peak value under the two flow velocities. Moreover, the
smaller the flow velocity, the more obvious the phenomenon
is.
The frequency distribution of the transverse vibration ampli-
tude is obtained by Fourier analysis of the amplitude curve. It
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TAN ET AL.
can be seen from Figure 8b that the frequency of VIV at the
reduced velocity of 7.08 is about 7.813 Hz. Moreover, the phe-
nomenon of beating vibration occurs at the reduced velocity
of 2.57, and the vibration amplitude of the submarine cable
increases and decreases periodically, with frequencies of about
4.395 and 5.859 Hz. It can be seen that the frequency domain
characteristics are consistent with the calculation results in the
fluid flow field and close to the first- and second-order natural
frequencies in the wet mode analysis.
5.3.3 Mechanical response analysis of
vortex-induced vibration
When VIV occurs, the stress of submarine cables is borne
mainly by the steel wire armour. Therefore, in order to study
the stress of submarine cables at different flow velocities, the
stress distribution nephograms of steel wire armour at different
flow velocities are extracted. It can be seen from Figures 9a and
b that the stress distribution at different flow velocities is sim-
ilar. When VIV occurs, since the transverse amplitude is larger
than that in the flow direction, the maximum stress on the sub-
marine cable appears on the upper and lower surfaces of the
two ends of the suspended span. The maximum stresses of steel
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1399

FIGURE 7 Vortex-induced vibration displacement distribution of submarine cable: (a) Vortex-induced vibration displacement nephogram at Ur = 2.57, (b)
vortex-induced vibration displacement nephogram at Ur = 7.08, (c) displacement along the submarine cable at different reduced velocities.
TAN ET AL.
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1400 TAN ET AL.

FIGURE 8 Time-frequency characteristics of the transverse amplitude of submarine cable under different reduced velocities: (a) Time domain curve, (b) FFT
of the transverse vibration amplitude.

FIGURE 9 Calculation results of stress distribution in each structural layer of submarine cable: (a) Stress distribution nephogram of steel wire armour at
Ur = 2.57, (b) stress distribution nephogram of steel wire armour at Ur = 7.08, (c) stress distribution curve of steel wire armour under different flow velocities, (d)
stress distribution curve along the sub-marine cable in different structural layers.

wire armour at the reduced velocity of 2.57 and 7.08 are 107 and
634 MPa, respectively. It shows that the greater the flow velocity,
the greater the mechanical stress on the steel wire armour.
The stress distribution along the axial direction of steel wire
armour at different flow velocities is shown in Figure 9c. It can
be seen from the figure that the greater the flow velocity, the
greater the stress. The stress of steel wire armour is symmet-
rically distributed along the axial direction, showing a trend of
decreasing first and then increasing, with the maximum value
appearing at both ends and a smaller peak in the middle.
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TAN ET AL. 1401

FIGURE 10 Calculation results of stress distribution at different circumferential positions of submarine cable under non-torsional structure: (a)
length-time-stress distribution curves at 0◦ , (b) length-time-stress distribution curves at 90◦ .

The stress distribution curves along the axial direction of dif-

ferent structural layers at the same flow velocity are shown in
Figure 9d. Among them, the steel wire armour bears the largest
stress, the maximum value is 626 MPa, and the lead alloy sheath
is 21.4 MPa. The PE filling layer has the smallest stress, which is
0.74 MPa.
In addition, the length-time-stress distribution curves within
one vibration cycle at the 0◦ and 90◦ of a specific structural
layer are shown in Figure 10, respectively. As seen from the
figure, the stresses at 0◦ and 90◦ are symmetrically distributed
along the axial direction, showing a trend of decreasing first and
then increasing. The maximum value appears at both ends, and a
smaller peak occurs in the middle. In terms of the time domain,
the changing period of stress at any point of two locations is the
same as that of vibration amplitude. Also, the changing trend
of stress magnitude and vibration amplitude is the same. More-
over, the stress amplitude at 0◦ is small, and the stress decreases
sharply when the transverse vibration amplitude is zero. Because
of gravity, when the transverse vibration amplitude of 90◦ is FIGURE 11 Length-time-stress distribution curve of the torsional optical
negative, the stress on both ends of the position is greater than fibre at the reduced velocity of 7.08.
that of the positive transverse vibration amplitude, and the peak
value of the midpoint is smaller. Based on the above results,
the spatial and temporal distribution of stress at different cir- Due to the torsional structure, the stress at the optical fibre
cumferential positions of submarine cables under VIV is quite position is no longer symmetrically distributed along the axial
different. direction. Moreover, the maximum stress appears alternately
at both ends of the submarine cable model with the vibration
period. At the same time, the optical fibre stress at each moment
5.4 Analysis of stress distribution in alternates between larger and smaller peaks along the cable
torsional optical fibre length, where there are four larger stress peaks corresponding
to the four cycles of optical fibre twisting on the submarine
Based on the method proposed in Section 3.4, the distance- cable. Also, the four larger stress peaks along the cable length
time-stress distribution curve of the position of the twisted gradually increase when the transverse amplitude is positive and
optical fibre in a vibration cycle is shown in Figure 11. gradually decrease when it is negative. Because of the effect of

1402
gravity, the maximum stress peak appears near 7700 mm at the
initial moment, and the maximum stress peak appears near 0 m
at 1/2 T moment. The stress distribution in both cases shows a
mirror relationship. Only when the transverse amplitude is zero,
the stress of the optical fibre of the torsion structure is symmet-
rically distributed along the axial direction. In terms of the time
domain, within a vibration period, the change period of opti-
cal fibre stress distribution is the same as the vibration period,
that is, the frequency change of stress distribution is VIV fre-
quency. At the same time, the two adjacent locations with the
largest stress change can be considered as the end of the VIV
suspended span. The stress distribution of the fibre position
obtained in this paper is roughly the same as the simulation
results in Reference [9], which verifies the effectiveness of the
stress acquisition method in this paper.
In addition, when the water flow vertically washes the sub-
marine cable, the stress amplitude of the head end and the end
of the VIV is equal. Otherwise, the amplitude may be differ-
ent. Suppose multi-section VIV occurs in the submarine cable.
In that case, different suspended spans can be distinguished by
the head end and end of the stress change and the frequency of
stress change.
5.5 Model validation
The results of Reference [20] show that when the reduced veloc-
ity Ur is in the range of 3 to 5, the frequency of VIV is close to
the natural frequency fn , and in the range of 5 to 9, the maximum
reaches 1.3 times of fn . The displacement of VIV increases with
the increase of flow velocity, and the maximum displacement
reaches 0.8 D.
In the simulation results of this paper, when the reduced
velocity is 2.57, the frequency of VIV is close to fn , and when
the reduced velocity is 7.08, the frequency of VIV is about 1.38
times of fn , and the maximum displacement is 0.945 D. The
results of this paper are similar to those obtained from the scaled
model experiment in [20]. Therefore, the model in this paper is
effective and practical, and the specific results will be discussed
below.
6 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the fluid–structure coupling finite element simu-
lation model of 110-kV XLPE insulated optical fibre composite
submarine cable is built. Then the VIV of the submarine cable
under different flow velocities is simulated and studied. The
time-frequency characteristics of VIV of the submarine cable
model and the mechanical response characteristics of steel wire
armour and optical fibre are obtained. Besides, the natural fre-
quencies and resonant frequencies of the wet mode of the
model are calculated, and the conclusions are as follows:
1. The submarine cable at the reduced velocity of 2.57 has the
phenomenon of beating vibration and is composed of two
vibrations with similar frequencies. Then, it has a locking
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TAN ET AL.
phenomenon after the reduced velocity reaches 7.08, with
a large vibration amplitude.
2. The displacement and stress along the submarine cable
length are symmetrically distributed and increase with the
flow velocity increase. Also, Steel wire armor and lead alloy
sheath bear more stress than the PE filling layer. Besides,
the stresses at 0◦ and 90◦ are symmetrically distributed along
the axial direction. In terms of the time domain, the change
period of stress at any point at different locations is the same
as that of amplitude. Thus, the stress change frequency is the
VIV frequency.
3. We propose a method to obtain the torsional fibre stress:
eight axial sampling paths are set, and then the stress of
the next sampling point in the next path is extracted cycli-
cally. The stress distribution of the torsional optical fibre
presents a mirror image relationship at two moments sep-
arated by half a vibration cycle. Also, the frequency of stress
change is the same as the frequency of VIV, which can judge
whether the VIV occurs. Moreover, the position where the
stress changes the most is the head and end of the VIV of
the submarine cable, from which the position and length of
the VIV can be obtained.
4. In monitoring submarine cable operation, VIV can be
judged by distributed optical fibre technology by monitoring
the vibration frequency or the change law of stress distribu-
tion. In this paper, the simulation method is used to analyze
the mechanical response of the optical fibre position, and the
real submarine cables will be used for experimental research
and validation in the future.
CREDIT CONTRIBUTION STATEMENT
Tan Haotian: Conceptualization; methodology; software; for-
mal analysis; validation; investigation; data curation; writing—
original draft. Yanpeng Hao: Conceptualization; writing—
review & editing. Yining Zhang: Supervision. Peng Zhang:
Data curation. Qishun Li: Investigation. Lin Yang: Supervi-
sion. Licheng Li: Supervision.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
Research data are not shared.
ORCID
Yanpeng Hao https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7938-2835
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How to cite this article: Tan, H., Hao, Y., Zhang, Y.,
Zhang, P., Li, Q., Yang, L., Li, L.: Fluid–structure
interaction simulation and optical fibre stress analysis of
submarine cables in vortex-induced vibration. IET
Gener. Transm. Distrib. 18, 1391–1403 (2024).
https://doi.org/10.1049/gtd2.13133