Flexible beam-like structures - experimental investigation and modeling of cables

This chapter deals with the deformation behavior of flexible slender structures such as cables or hoses. In addition to their main functions, conducting electric current or other media, their mechanical properties gain importance, since the number of applications where cables are loaded mechanically increases. The first section of this chapter deals with the basic experimental characterization of the deformation behavior of cables and similar beam-like structures. Experiments on different specimens illustrate the possible variants in constitutive deformation behavior, covering rate independent elastic and inelastic behavior. The second part of this contribution treats the modeling of beam-like structures by means of the Cosserat rod theory. It allows for the simplification of the three-dimensional continuum mechanical framework due to the slender geometry of the observed specimens. The governing equations are then formulated in the sectional quantities of the geometrically exact beam. The focus in this part lies on the constitutive modeling of the phenomena observed in the first part, with a special emphasis on the constitutive bending behavior of cables.