Experimental investigation on vortex-induced vibration of marine towing cable with suppression device

Vortex-induced vibration will occur due to the vortex shedding around the marine towing cable during the towing movement, further affecting the acquisition efficiency of the marine seismic exploration system. In order to investigate the passive suppression efficiency and mechanism, a towing system including a cable hanging module, a connection module and a cable model is designed, and 36 towing tests with sleeve suppression device are carried out in the towing tank. The VIV response amplitude and frequency characteristics of the marine towing cable with and without sleeves are studied firstly. The dominant frequency and response displacement are compared with different towing speeds, towing depths and coverages. The conditions with the sleeve coverage of 30% and 50% show higher suppression efficiency than that with 80% coverage. Some unique characteristics like double dominant frequency and dominant frequency reduction are captured. The mechanism of sleeve effects on the VIV response is explained finally.