An Experimental Assessment on Umbilical Cable Crushing Using Digital Image Correlation

Focusing on the integrity of umbilical cable components during the laying operation, particularly on hoses integrity, this paper assesses displacement fields on umbilical cable cross-sections by means of a special crushing test setup. Using a high resolution Digital Image Correlation system (DIC), experiments with two umbilical cables are carried out in a 250 kN mechanical tests rig. Besides measuring the components displacements, applied crushing forces and shoes displacements are acquired. The experimental samples are taken from two HCR-hoses umbilical cables, which have been cases of study of a finite element analysis methodology, recently proposed and presented in OMAE2015, [12]. Experimental analysis and a theoretical-experimental correlation are presented, for both umbilical cables.