Experimental Assessments on the Evaluation of Wire Rope Characteristics as Helical Symmetrical Multi-body Ensembles

The existing literature provides various computational models related to the dynamic behavior of strand wire ropes. It starts from the simple longitudinally oscillating beam, to the complex nonlinear multi-body configuration based on helical structural symmetry. The challenge is the prior availability of characteristic parameters for material behavior, structural configuration, and functional capability. Experimental investigation is the main source for evaluation of these characteristics. However, tests have specifically been performed according to each case, minimizing the generalization aspect. This is the main frame of this study. Hereby, the authors propose an ensemble of spectral investigations, applied to a reduced set of experimental tests regarding wire rope dynamics. The research goal consists of wire rope characterization in terms of the flexible and adaptive groups of parameters, related to the conservative and dissipative behaviors. An experimental setup is considered here according to the rope exploitation conditions in order to enable an extension of the method application from the experimental mode to the operational mode. Experiments are conducted based on classical vibration measurement procedures. The analysis is performed using a spectral method ensemble, including discrete Fourier transform, time-frequency joint analysis, and the Prony method. The result show that the proposed assessments can provide suitable information related to a large group of wire rope models.