Numerical model updating applied to the simulation of carbon fiber–reinforced polymer cables under bending and tensile stress

Wire ropes are widely used in applications where the axial stress is high and flexural and torsional stresses are relatively low. Study of their mechanical behavior encompasses many factors, bringing considerable complexity to the construction of numerical or analytical models that suitably represent their behavior, including contact stresses between rods, helical geometry, rotation of wires when extended and also, in the case of carbon fiber–reinforced polymer (composite) cables, their anisotropic behavior. In view of the lack of suitable analytical solutions, this work focuses on the updating of a finite element model by incorporating factors commonly neglected by simplified analytical approaches. The carbon fiber–reinforced polymer cable was modeled under tensile stress and under four-point bending. After that a sensitivity analysis of the main parameters governing the problem was conducted. The updating process minimized the deviation between numerical and experimental data, and the model was able to reproduce the tensile and bending behavior with deviations smaller than 1%. The adopted methodology can be extended to similar cases.