Efficient modeling of spiral strands subjected to biaxial bending and variable axial force

Spiral strands exhibit nonlinear hysteretic bending behavior due to their helical geometry and interwire frictional contact interaction. In this study, an efficient framework based on computational homogenization is proposed, in which a spiral strand is replaced by a homogeneous beam with effective material properties. To obtain the macroscopic (moment curvature response) and microscopic (axial force of individual wires) responses at each integration point, rheological models are proposed, the parameters of which are easily obtained from several monotonic uniaxial bendings.