CAD Software for Cable Design: A Three-Dimensional Visualization Tool

The concept and project of umbilical cables and flexible pipes are not simple tasks, due to the great variety of components and possible arrangements. The design of those elements is based on the functions they are intended to perform. Also, some structural characteristics determine which component will be selected, including electrical cables and hydraulic hoses, to control underwater equipment, protective sheaths, helically wounded tensile armors, anti-wear layers, interlocked carcasses; pressure armors and so on. The modeling process consists on defining the cable features and selecting the elements that will compose it. The process should take into account the desired structural characteristics, such as axial stiffness, and must respect some constraints, such as weight. To have an operational cable, one must follow a number of steps from definition to validation of the cable and any tool that provides a easier way to deal with this process is highly desired. In this scenario, Computer Aided Design software was conceived. It enables the definition of cable elements and set its relative arrangements in a cross-section view. Post-processing features are also part of the program, enabling users to visualize the geometry, determining possible interferences only visible in a three-dimensional visualization module. Although a solver is also available to determine stress and displacements and, as a sub-product, the cable weight and equivalent stiffness, the CAD software can be easily integrated to other solvers, to provide pre and post processing resources. This paper gives a general description of the whole CAD system but focus on the three-dimensional module. Through the paper, an overview of the software is shown, pointing out the system requirements. Next, the user interface is described, showing its features and, to conclude, modeled cables geometries and some results are shown.