By Peter Weiss
The mooring and towing of oil rigs and huge ships rely on the strength and durability of thick ropes and the splices that join those ropes. Yet the mathematical models used to evaluate ropes have long left the splices out of the equations.
Now, Christopher M. Leech of Tension Technology International in Eastbourne, England, has mathematically evaluated three major classes of rope splices. The new analysis, slated for an upcoming Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A, can yield precise predictions about how different types of splices behave, Leech says.