Accelerated block tension fatigue testing of wire ropes for offshore use

RoundTable – ENDURANCE RESEARCH OF WIRE ROPE AND ITS PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS – Glasgow 1985

Confidence in the use of large diameter tethers for offshore mooring applications will largely depend on the availability of reliable performance data. The most significant aspects of the service conditions of such tethers are random loading induced primarily by the wave forces and long lives, typically twenty years. The acquisition of fatigue performance data under realistic service conditions is both expensive and time consuming. This paper examines the basis for an economically-acceptable method of acquiring such data using accelerated block programme testing of full-scale prototypes.