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ADVANCES IN DEEPWATER CABLE MAINTENANCE THROUGH

NEW GRAPNEL TECHNOLOGY

Andrew Thomas (Ocean Cable Technologies Ltd), Nigel Weaver (Alcatel-Lucent Submarine
Networks)
Email: Andrew.Thomas@octl.org.uk
Ocean Cable Technologies Ltd, 3.4 Central Point, Kirpal Rd, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO3
6FH, UK
Abstract: The timely recovery of lightweight cable from deep water locations presents the
marine operator with a significant challenge when affecting a cable repair operation. Time
lost during this critical phase costs both the maintenance provider and system owner alike.
An effective and reliable method of engaging, cutting and recovering the cable from full
ocean depths (9000m) would reduce the number grapnel drives a cable ship currently will
make providing significant time and cost savings. Indeed this type of technology has been
sought ever since the first subsea telegraph cables were installed. Many potential solutions
have been put into service over this time. However, as a result of new generation cables
introduced about 20 years ago, there is currently no solution in widespread use today that can
recover a cable effectively from its full operating depth. As a result this, the practice of using
three separate grapnel runs is still commonly used.
In response to this industry need, the research and development project undertaken to produce
new “Cut & Hold” grapnel technology, and presented at SubOptic 2007, has now reached
conclusion with successful sea trials. The first of a new generation of Cut & Hold grapnels is
to go into service in early 2010.
This paper provides an overview of the project and an insight into how the problems
associated with engaging, gripping, cutting and recovering a lightweight cable from depths of
up to 9000m have been tackled and overcome. The paper then builds on this to illustrate what
additional benefits the new technology can bring to the industry. Finally, a summary is
provided of the extensive qualification work that has been undertaken on all key LW and
LWP cable variants.

1 INTRODUCTION proved 100% successful and marked the

In September 2009 a new type of Cut &
Hold Grapnel underwent sea trials in the
Bay of Biscay. The event marked the
conclusion of nearly five years of research
and development work. The goal was to
produce a grapnel that would operate down
to maximum ocean depths, locate, cut and
recover all LW and LWP cable types
currently in use, be purely mechanical -
independent of any electrical or hydraulic
device - and to be highly reliable in
operation. The results of the sea trial
introduction of a new generation of Cut &
Hold Grapnels capable of meeting its
objectives and providing additional
benefits beyond those currently available.
2 INITIAL FOCUS OF PROJECT
One of the fundamental objectives when
recovering a cable from great depths is to
ensure the cable has been effectively
retained thus ensuring that it is not lost
during recovery. Losing the cable at this
point of the operation results in a

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 conference & convention
significant waste of time, resources and
leaves the marine operator a considerable
problem in locating the lost cable. As
presented in SubOptic 2007 [1], the
starting point for the project was the
development of an effective means of
gripping the cable. A study undertaken at
the outset concluded that prior and existing
technology used to grip cable is highly
dependant on pressure exerted on the outer
sheath. This method while simple and
relatively effective is susceptible to a
condition known as ‘filleting’ [2] at high
loads when used on modern designed LW
and LWP cables. Under this condition the
outer polyethylene sheath is stripped from
the inner strength member resulting in loss
of retention load. From this was conceived
the idea that the method of gripping a cable
should penetrate through the outer
polyethylene layer and bear directly down
onto the inner strength member of the
cable.
Following this insight a number of
concepts or designs were developed.
These in turn were tested in a tensile test
rig using LW and LWP cable until the
most effective design was developed. As
the mechanism is required to operate in a
harsh environment, many contaminants
such as sand and stone were included in
the testing to ensure the design would not
be compromised during service when
towed along the seabed. Importantly the
forces required to operate the gripping
device were accurately assessed and
recorded so that they could be reproduced
within the final grapnel assembly. The
resulting technology (covered under
patents derived from PCT/GB/2007/00040)
was developed to address this requirement
and has been proven to retain the cable up
to and beyond the NTTS value.
Importantly the gripping area is only
50mm long.
3 ENERGY SOURCE
Once the development of the gripping
device had been completed, the focus of
the project turned towards deriving the
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energy source for the grapnel. It should be
noted that although a number of concepts
had been developed, at this stage of the
project no decisions had been made as to
how the grapnel would physically operate.
We knew we had solved the problem of
gripping the cable. Existing technology for
cutting the cable had already been
developed by the company. What we now
needed to resolve was how to deliver
sufficient energy to drive both the gripping
device and then the cable cutter.
The need to produce a purely mechanical
device had always been considered a
critical factor required to meet the
reliability requirements and attain full
ocean operating depths of 9000m and
beyond. Hydraulic and electrical
components are too susceptible to damage
or malfunction at such depths, and may be
intrinsically more challenging to maintain
in operational readiness. A mechanical
device, however, which does not require
sealing from the high pressures
experienced on the seabed, will operate in
a similar manner both on land and in water.
The search for where to obtain the energy
source did not take too long. The tow wire
deployed from the cable ship transmits a
significant amount of energy when towing
a traditional grapnel along the seabed.
Indeed this option has been used
successfully before [1]. On this occasion
the success criteria would be how better to
convert this energy to provide the forces
required.
After reviewing many options it was
decided that a purpose built low ratio
gearbox arrangement would be utilised to
transfer the force generated from the tow
cable and drive the mechanism to grip and
cut the cable on the sea bed. This option
provided one distinct advantage in that the
loads generated could be far in excess of
those required to complete the operation.
In addition, the time taken to complete the
sequence while operating at normal vessel
speeds is about 20-25 seconds. This means
the device operates at a relatively slow
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gentle pace instead of activating with a bending moments are kept at their lowest
sudden shock type reaction. during recovery.
The resulting design functions by using a
tow wire coiled around an internal cable
drum housing the gearbox. Once the
device has been activated the cable is
pulled from within the grapnel driving the
gearbox. The axial movement is
transferred to linear which in turn drives
the gripping device and cutter into the
cable. The unit is configured so that the
cable is fully gripped before it is cut so
there is no opportunity for the cable to
escape during device activation.
Figure 2 : Cut & Hold Grapnel being launched
One key feature is that the grapnel cannot
be activated until the cable is fully located Figure 2 shows the grapnel being launched
within the gripping area. This function over the bow sheave of CS Peter Faber. A
prevents misfire. However, until the cable line from the gantry hoist attached to the
is located positively within the grapnel, the rear of the Cut & Hold grapnel is used to
unit can be towed across the seabed launch the unit. The Cut & Hold grapnel is
without activation. If caught on a 1m wide and 2.4m long and can be
submerged object such as a rock outcrop deployed and recovered directly over the
the grapnel can take a load of up to 15 bow sheath using only the tow wire for
tonnes in order to pull it free. If the recovery as shown in Figure 3.
grapnel does not released at this point, the
tines which are used to de-bury and capture
the cable are released to allowing the
remainder of the unit to break free. The
final design is shown in Figure 1.
Cable Gripper
and Cutter
Tow Cable

Figure 3 : Recovery Over Bow Sheave

Tine Gear Box
Housing
Figure 1 : Cut & Hold Grapnel
An important factor is the ability for the
grapnel to pass over either the bow or stern
sheave of the vessel. A review of likely
vessels concluded that the maximum width
should be 1m and the overall length should
be constrained to a minimum to assure
Once on board the vessel, the Cut & Hold
grapnel is pulled clear of the bow or stern
sheave while it remains attached to the tow
wire. At this point the recovered cable
remains securely fixed within the unit via
the cable grippers. The Cut & Hold
grapnel has been designed so that the
gripping device is positively locked before
recovering from the seabed to assure the
cable is not prematurely released. Finally,
cable stoppers are attached to the cable
before cutting the cable directly behind the
grapnel as seen in Figure 4. The cable is

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then hauled into the centre castle and the
grapnel is prepared for the next operation.
Figure 4 : Attaching the Cable Stoppers
4 GRAPNEL ACTIVATION
DETECTION
The desire to keep the design all
mechanical means it is not possible to
provide direct feedback to the vessel as to
when the unit has activated. Indeed it
would be relatively simple to attach a deep
sea transponder to the grapnel in order to
provide this type of feedback. Whether or
not this would be regarded as sufficiently
effective remains unknown, but it is true to
say that this type of technology is
susceptible to interference by such
phenomena as thermoclines or
malfunction. This element of uncertainty
presents a significant problem to overcome
to ensure the grapnel is not recovered too
early or more importantly too late when the
cable could be placed under great strain.
In searching for a reliable solution we have
looked towards the information available
on the surface rather than from that on the
seabed. The manner with which the
grapnel behaves during operation does
provide relatively accurate and reliable
information via measurement of tow
tension and time. For example, as the
grapnel is pulled across the seabed the tow
wire tension will be relatively consistent
with possible peaks and troughs as the unit
encounters submerged obstacles or hard
ground. However, once the cable has been
located and captured the tow tension will
be seen to gradually increase until it
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reaches the activation load; nominally set
between 0.8-1.0 tonnes tow tension. Once
the tension reaches the release load the
device activates and the tow wire tension
decreases as it drives the grapnel
mechanism. During this transition the tow
load only reduces by about 1 tonne until
the cable is gripped and cut. Once gripped
and cut the grapnel and retained cable end
are pulled into a catenary with the tow wire
and the load is again seen to rise. These
events can be seen in Graph 1 below..
e
b
a
d
c
Graph 1 : Recorded Data From Sea Trial
a – denotes when the cable is captured
and shows tow tension building
b – device release and mechanism begins
cycle
c – cable gripped and cut
d – grapnel and cable pulled into catenary
e – ship slows, reverses to begin recovery
Once the cable is captured the entire
process is completed within about 4
minutes depending upon cable slack. This
means the event is easily recognised
onboard and that the vessel can be brought
to a stop in plenty of time for recovery to
the surface.
5 CABLE SLACK MANAGEMENT
One of the key issues with locating and
recovering a cable is the amount of slack
the cable has been installed with. Consider
a cable which has a significant amount of
slack. When caught by a grapnel it will be
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pulled into a bight; the failure load of the
cable in a bight could be as high as twice
that of the cable. However, consider a
cable which has been installed with no
slack. When caught by the grapnel the
cable is immediately placed into tension.
Given the apparent angle between the
grapnel track and cable, the resulting load
seen on the grapnel tow wire will be
significantly lower with a cable installed
without slack than with a cable installed
with slack. For a cable with an NTTS of 5
tonnes, if installed with 2% slack the
maximum tow tension on the grapnel
before the cable fails could be as low as
1.2 tonnes. When using a traditional
grapnel to recover the cable this does not
present a problem as the aim of the first
grapnel run is to capture the cable and lift
it clear from the seabed until it fails.
However, on a Cut and Hold Grapnel
design that is dependant on cable slack to
grip the cable, i.e. other designs of Cut and
Hold Grapnels which make use of the
capstan affect, this represents a significant
problem. To overcome this, the new
design grips the cable over a very short
length, 50mm, and keeps the cable
predominantly straight, therefore it does
not need any cable slack to operate. In
addition, the activation load of the grapnel
can be set as low as 500kg tow wire
tension; well below the critical 1.2 tonnes.
Together both of these factors mean that
the operational boundaries for the new
design are extended to account for cable
systems installed both with slack and
without slack.
6 EXTENDED BENEFITS
The new grapnel has been designed to be
symmetrical and double sided so that,
irrespective of which side it lands, it will
still function as required. From this we
have been able to design in another distinct
feature. The gripping device is located
centrally, whereas the cutter is mounted to
one side. By simply switching the location
of the cutter assembly on both sides of the
grapnel and re-assembling, the side or
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direction of the cut can be selected so that
the operator can pre-determine which
direction they wish to recover the cable
first. However, being able to select which
side to cut has one other distinct
advantage. When using a traditional
grapnel for recovery of a branching unit or
repeater the ship operator must carefully
consider the distance from the unit to
ensure damage to the unit does not occur.
Grappling too close to the unit increases
the risk of lifting the unit from the sea bed
and then dropping it. Grappling too far
from the plant wastes more cable then is
necessary.
As previously discussed, the new Cut &
Hold grapnel does not require slack in the
cable to operate. It also does not require a
high tow force to activate. Combined with
the ability to select the side of cut, this
gives the capability to perform operations
close to a branching unit or repeater; thus
reducing the risk of damaging plant or
wasting significant amounts of installed
cable.
7 MINIMAL DISTRUPTION TO
CABLE POSITION
When using a traditional grapnel the first
run is used to capture and break the cable.
In doing so the cable is pulled from the sea
bed into the water column and pulled
towards the surface until the cable breaks.
At this point the cable descends back to the
sea bed. Experience has shown that during
this operation the cable can lose its
position when transiting back to the sea
bed. The higher the cable is lifted, the
greater this problem can be. On occasions
the new position of the cable can be
significantly different from the previous
position. Given that this deviation cannot
be charted or monitored, the marine
operator can experience significant
difficulties in subsequently relocating both
cable ends. Often this will mean re-
positioning the vessel further along the
cable to ensure the cable is captured,
resulting in lost time and wasted cable.
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The new Cut & Hold grapnel helps to the design was finally proven through trials
overcome this by firstly cutting the cable conducted both on land and then at sea.
on the sea bed. Secondly, due to the Land trials have the advantage of being
relatively low tow wire tensions used to relatively inexpensive and also provide the
operate the unit, the cable is not pulled far opportunity to see what is happening first
from its original location. With the first hand. Sea trials, while considerably more
end automatically recovered by the Cut expensive, provide both final verification
and Hold Grapnel, the remaining end is left and also an understanding of the specific
in a position relatively easy to relocate. handling requirements.
8 COMPATIBILITY WITH CABLE The land trials were conducted on
TYPES farmland nearby. A length of cable was
installed across a field and restrained both
Early work on the project concluded that a
ends with mushroom anchors. The grapnel
Cut and Hold Grapnel is only as good as its
was then towed across the cable behind an
ability to retain the cable. As previously
excavator to resemble as closely as
discussed significant work was undertaken
possible marine conditions as shown in
to develop the cable gripping device
Figure 5.
capable of retaining the cable to a
minimum of its NTTS value. In order that
this could be proven the gripper device was
subjected to a substantial qualification
program.
Several tests were developed to simulate
the environment and potential forces that
could be exerted on the device.
Undertaken within a tensile test rig, the
cable and gripping device were subjected
to straight tensile test to simulate
maximum retention load, held at NTTS for
1 hour to simulate recovery, pulled in a
straight line and also at 90° to simulate the
maximum recovery angles etc. Each test
was repeated with the gripping device
submerged in some form of contaminant to
determine the effect. These included sand,
stone, mud, salt water, grease, etc.
The original testing was conducted on Figure 5 : Land Trials
ASN OALC-4 cable. Once proven, the
Two sets of land trials were completed in
same qualification program commenced
June and July 2009. Both were
for other cables currently in use. The aim
independently witnessed. The results from
is to ensure that the Cut & Hold grapnel is
the trials demonstrated that the Cut & Hold
qualified for use with a cable type before
grapnel operated in a consistent manner
an operation to ensure time and resources
and was also highly effective. As a result
are not wasted. Most common cable types
of this the design was accepted for sea
currently in use have completed
trials.
qualification.
Sea trials took place on board the CS Peter
9 LAND AND SEA TRIALS
Faber in September 2009. A site was
Before the new Cut & Hold Grapnel could selected in a deep water area of the Bay of
be put into service it was imperative that Biscay. A trial cable system was

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specifically installed for the operation and development of Cut and Hold Grapnel
which consisted of two sections of cable - technology. As a result the industry
LW and LWP. Each length of cable was persevered on past and current practices to
restrained at the ends using two mushroom recover deep water cable. The authors of
anchors and joined in the middle as shown this paper believe the obstacles have been
in Figure 6. overcome with the introduction of the new
Cut & Hold grapnel. The technology has
N 1st deep water trial array with planned drives been proven in the laboratory, on land
trials and finally in sea trials. As a result
Drive 1 Drive 2 the new Cut & Hold grapnel is now
Approx.
1km
LWP
Approx.
1km commercially available and the first
LW
production units are being manufactured
2.1 km 4.5 km
for service this year.
11 REFERENCES
Figure 6 : Sea Trial Test Plan
[1] Advances in deepwater cable
The objective was to drive the Cut & Hold maintenance through new grapnel
grapnel across each section of the cable, technology’ Jeremy.Featherstone &
cut, hold, and then recover the outer Andrew Thomas, SubOptic 2007,
section including the mushroom anchors Baltimore USA, Paper TuA1.4
and ground tackle. The operation would
then be repeated on the second remaining
section. Finally the buoyed off end would [2] GB Patent GB1492988, Cosier &
be recovered before re-installing the Jenkins, 1974
system and repeating the trial.
The trials proved to be 100% successful on
every grapnel drive undertaken. The cable,
ground tackle and mushroom anchors were
successfully recovered each time with no
sign of slippage within the gripping device.
Recovery loads were consistently between
4-4.5 tonnes. Figure 7 shows the Cut &
Hold grapnel shortly after recovery.

Figure 7 : Recovered Grapnel and Cable

10 CONCLUSION
The arrival of lightweight cables
introduced significant barriers for the use

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