Bending boundary layers in tensioned cables and rods

It is well known that critical design conditions for many important classes of tensioned cables and rods occur at highly localized boundary layers ass ociated with either the application of discrete loading or end supports tha t are incompatible with the preferred membrane (catenary) shape. Although s uccessfully demonstrating the localized forms of these boundary layers, the complexity of the many important past analytical contributions to the prob lem acts as a deterrent to their adoption by engineers. As an alternative t o the now common recourse to numerical methods, the following shows how the analysis of the boundary layers can be simplified to that of the bending o f a tensioned straight rod. Illustrations of localized bending distortions from the catenary are drawn from subsea pipelay processes and the seating o f suspension bridge cables. The simplicity of the method and the analytical ly explicit forms of its predictions should make it an attractive alternati ve to engineers. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.