Examples

The examples/ folder ships ready-to-run input decks. It is part of the source archive — download Source code (zip) from the release page (Installation); the executables do not contain it. Every standalone deck below was run with CableDyn_driver.exe for this release; the run time is the wall time on an ordinary desktop.

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force results | Out-Null   # the driver does not create it
.\CableDyn_driver.exe .\examples\<deck>.dat .\results\<root>

Use the closest deck as a template, copy it under a new name, and keep every file it references (motion, Syrope, bathymetry) in the same relative location. The deck grammar is in Deck format reference (.dat), every option in OPTIONS reference and defaults, and every output in Output files and channels.

Route is the solver path the deck exercises: cable (EI = 0 element), Hermite (finite-EI bending element), points/bodies (EI = 0 lines coupled to dynamic points, bodies, or rods), or mixed (both elements in one deck). Static decks stop at the equilibrium; dynamic decks march in time from it; modal decks compute natural periods and mode shapes about it.

Start here

Deck	What it shows	Route	Run time
chain_catenary_shallow_30m.dat	270 m R4 chain in 30 m of water, mostly grounded — the Quickstart: first result in five minutes deck	cable, static	< 1 s
chain_catenary_r3_100m.dat	550 m R3 chain in 100 m, classic grounded catenary — Tutorial 1 — A grounded catenary chain	cable, static	< 1 s
wd0050_chain.dat	410 m chain in 50 m with a long grounded length, fairlead at the surface, plus point-position channels	cable, static	< 1 s
cabledyn_options_reference.dat	a runnable 30 m chain whose active rows show every common default; commented rows show each alternative form of current, waves, WaterKin, motion, and bathymetry	cable, static	< 1 s
chain_modes.dat	the 12 lowest natural periods and mode shapes (nModes) of the 100 m R3 chain catenary, written to <root>.modes.out — Tutorial 1 — A grounded catenary chain	cable, modal	< 1 s

Mooring configurations

Deck	What it shows	Route	Run time
spread_3line_chain.dat	IEA-15MW VolturnUS-S three-line chain spread, 200 m — Tutorial 2 — A spread mooring and its output channels	cable, static	< 1 s
spread_4line_chain.dat	symmetric four-line spread and multi-line output selection	cable, static	< 1 s
iea15mw_volturnus_mooring.dat	one line of the VolturnUS-S spread, for single-line comparisons	cable, static	< 1 s
taut_chain_steep.dat	steep, near-taut chain with almost no grounded length	cable, static	< 1 s
wire_catenary_mooring.dat	steel-wire catenary with wire mass, stiffness, and drag	cable, static	< 1 s
composite_chain_wire.dat	chain + wire composite on a penalty seabed: one line, two sections	cable, static	< 1 s
composite_chain_poly_chain.dat	chain–polyester–chain: one line, three ordered sections	cable, static	< 1 s
semitaut_chain_polyester.dat	Lozon et al. (2025) Gulf of Maine 200 m semi-taut composite (chain at the anchor, polyester above)	cable, static	< 1 s
lozon_gomex80_mooring.dat, lozon_gomaine200_mooring.dat, lozon_humboldt800_mooring.dat	the single-line moorings of the three Lozon sites (80, 200, 800 m); the 200 m and 800 m decks use the viscoelastic Es|Ed / Bs|Bd rope form, with dynamic-branch values labelled in each deck as assumptions because the paper tabulates only the static EA	cable, static	< 1 s

Synthetic ropes

A rope’s EA and BA tokens select the constitutive model; see Tutorial 6 — Synthetic ropes and, for the equations, the viscoelastic (series-Kelvin) and Syrope sections of Theory.

polyester_linear  0.1438 22.42  1.424e8                         -0.8          0.0  1.2 0.2 1.0 0.0
polyester_ve      0.1438 22.42  1.424e8|2.50e8                 4.0e9|1.1e7   0.0  1.2 0.2 1.0 0.0
nylon_mean_load   0.1500 24.00  6.0e7|1.00e8|0.4              4.0e9|1.1e7   0.0  1.2 0.2 1.0 0.0
polyester_syrope  0.1438 22.42  "SYROPE:data/syrope/syrope_settings.dat|1.53e8|23.12"  5.0e10|1.0e5  0.0  1.0 0.0 1.0 0.0

Deck	What it shows	Route	Run time
polyester_catenary_mooring.dat	690 m semi-taut polyester leg with a single linear EA	cable, static	< 1 s
nylon_taut_mooring.dat	taut nylon leg with a single linear EA	cable, static	< 1 s
ve_polyester_catenary_mooring.dat	the polyester leg with the viscoelastic (series-Kelvin) model, constant dynamic stiffness (MoorDyn ElasticMod 2: EA = Es|Ed, BA = Bs|Bd)	cable, static	< 1 s
ve_nylon_loaddependent_mooring.dat	viscoelastic nylon with mean-load-dependent dynamic stiffness (ElasticMod 3: EA = Es|alphaMBL|vbeta)	cable, static	< 1 s
ve_polyester_dynamic_waves.dat	the viscoelastic polyester leg under a 1.5 m, 10 s Airy wave for 10 s	cable, dynamic	< 1 s
syrope_polyester_mooring.dat	Syrope working-curve polyester with a SYROPE IC load history; needs data/syrope/syrope_settings.dat and data/syrope/syrope_owc.dat	cable, dynamic	< 1 s

Dynamic environment

Deck	What it shows	Route	Run time
dynamic_chain_held.dat	10 s still-water march from equilibrium; the tension must not drift — Tutorial 5 — Current, waves, and convergence	cable, dynamic	< 1 s
dynamic_chain_current.dat	the same line in a 1 m/s uniform current	cable, dynamic	< 1 s
dynamic_chain_waves.dat	the same line under a 2 m, 8 s Airy wave (Morison, Froude–Krylov, wetting)	cable, dynamic	< 1 s
chain_torsethaugen_spread.dat	the same chain in a short-crested Torsethaugen sea (Hs 5 m, Tp 11 s, cos-2s WaveSpreading s = 4) — Tutorial 5 — Current, waves, and convergence	cable, dynamic	~1 s
chain_two_train_sea.dat	a two-train sea: a spread JONSWAP wind sea plus a long-crested swell from 60° (wavetrain rows) — Tutorial 5 — Current, waves, and convergence	cable, dynamic	~1 s
moordynC_wavekin/chain_wavekin7_currents1.dat	MoorDyn-C water kinematics: WaveKin 7 (wave_frequencies.txt) and Currents 1 (current_profile.txt) read from the deck folder — Tutorial 5 — Current, waves, and convergence	cable, dynamic	< 1 s
stream_wave_shallow_chain.dat	the 30 m R4 chain under a steep Dean stream-function wave (H 8 m, T 10 s, StreamOrder 20) — Tutorial 5 — Current, waves, and convergence	cable, dynamic	< 1 s
airy_wave_shallow_chain.dat	the same chain, wave height and period with linear Airy theory, for comparison	cable, dynamic	< 1 s
chain_range_tdp.dat	a 410 m chain in 50 m whose fairlead surges 5 m at 30 s under a 6 m, 10 s Airy wave: range graph (Outputs flag r, RangeStart) and touchdown-point channels; plot it with plot_range_envelope.py — Tutorial 8 — Python studies and post-processing	cable, dynamic	< 1 s
laid_cable_cross_current.dat	a laid cable in a 1.2 m/s cross current held by anisotropic seabed friction (frictionMuAxial 0.3, frictionMuLateral 1.0) — Tutorial 5 — Current, waves, and convergence	cable, dynamic	< 1 s

Points, buoys, bodies, and rods

Deck	What it shows	Route	Run time
clump_weight_free_point.dat	a chain ending in a 20 t clump weight modelled as a Free point	points, dynamic	< 1 s
connect_weighted_point.dat	two lines meeting at a force-balanced weighted Connect point	points, dynamic	< 1 s
rigid6_buoy.dat	a submerged 6-DOF Rigid6 buoy on three taut polyester legs in current — Tutorial 7 — Buoys, bodies, and rods	bodies, dynamic	< 1 s
rod_moored_spar.dat	a buoyant free rigid rod held by four polyester legs in current, with rod end-position output	rods, dynamic	< 1 s
buoy_clamped_cable.dat	a floating Rigid6 buoy on three taut legs with a finite-EI cable clamped at its keel (END CONNECTIONS Rigid on a Body1 point), 30 s of swell — Tutorial 7 — Buoys, bodies, and rods	bodies, dynamic	~6 s
spar_pinned_rods.dat	a free Rigid6 spar with a fixed hull rod, two Body1Pinned outrigger rods carrying tethers, and three chains, in waves and current — Tutorial 7 — Buoys, bodies, and rods	bodies, dynamic	~2 s
mixed_body_rods_points.dat	one march over a Rigid6 body, fixed and pinned rods, Free points on a chain, taut legs and a finite-EI cable; a free-decay release — Tutorial 7 — Buoys, bodies, and rods	mixed, dynamic	~3 s

Line failure (accidental limit state)

A FAILURE row detaches a line from its fairlead mid-run, by time or by tension; the examples README.md reports the transient on the remaining lines.

Deck	What it shows	Route	Run time
als_volturnus_line_break_time.dat	the IEA-15MW VolturnUS-S as a free Rigid6 body on three chains in a JONSWAP sea with a steady thrust; line 1 breaks at its fairlead at t = 300 s and the platform moves 62 m to a two-line equilibrium	bodies, dynamic	~30 s
als_volturnus_line_break_tension.dat	the same platform; line 1 breaks when its fairlead tension first reaches 3.0 MN	bodies, dynamic	~30 s

Dynamic power cables

The Lozon et al. (2025) installed lazy-wave cables at three reference sites. CableDyn finds each touchdown and lazy-wave shape from the geometry alone; there is no initial-shape input.

Deck	What it shows	Route	Run time
lozon_gomex80_power_cable.dat	Gulf of Mexico, 80 m: bare/buoyant/bare lazy wave with a grounded tail — Tutorial 3 — A lazy-wave power cable	Hermite, static	< 1 s
lozon_gomaine200_power_cable.dat	Gulf of Maine, 200 m	Hermite, static	< 1 s
lozon_humboldt800_power_cable.dat	Humboldt, 800 m	Hermite, static	< 1 s
lozon_gomex80_power_cable_motion.dat	the 80 m cable driven 36 s by a 3 m, 12 s hang-off heave from data/lozon/gomex80_heave_3m_12s_dt005.txt on 64 elements, within 0.5 % of a 1024-element solution — Tutorial 4 — Prescribed fairlead motion	Hermite, dynamic	< 1 s
lazy_wave_vessel_motion.dat	the 80 m cable with a clamped (Rigid) hang-off on a vessel in prescribed 6-DOF surge, heave and pitch (vesselMotion); BendMom1N1 is the hang-off moment — Tutorial 4 — Prescribed fairlead motion	Hermite, dynamic	~4 s
lazy_wave_vessel_rao.dat	the same clamped cable on a vessel driven by the illustrative RAO table data/vessel/sample_rao.txt (vesselRAO) in a JONSWAP sea that also loads the cable — Tutorial 4 — Prescribed fairlead motion	Hermite, dynamic	~9 s
lazy_wave_buoyancy_modules.dat	the 80 m cable in a 0.5 m/s current with its buoyant stretch built from ten discrete buoyancy modules (ATTACHMENTS series first:pitch:last) — Tutorial 3 — A lazy-wave power cable	Hermite, static	< 1 s
lazy_wave_buoyancy_smeared.dat	the same cable with the stretch smeared as one EQUIVALENT BUOYANCY section, for comparison with the modules	Hermite, static	< 1 s
lazy_wave_modes.dat	the 10 lowest natural periods and mode shapes (nModes) of the 80 m cable on its 1024-element mesh — Tutorial 3 — A lazy-wave power cable	Hermite, modal	~2 s
torsion_lazy_wave_hangoff_twist.dat	the 80 m cable with an illustrative GJ of 50 kN·m², clamped and restrained in torsion at both ends, twisted two turns at the hang-off over 60 s by the motionFile roll column (data/torsion/hangoff_roll_2turns_60s_dt01.txt) and held for 30 s. Torq1N1 reaches 3.54 kN·m and Twist1 690°: the cable takes up 30° of the 720° by writhing out of its plane (L1N58py, 3.3 m). The range graph carries the torque and twist envelopes. See Condensed torsion	Hermite, dynamic	~2 s

The first three set TMax = 0 (static only). The motion file holds absolute position, velocity, and acceleration at every dtM and is regenerated by data/lozon/generate_gomex80_heave.py.

OpenFAST coupling

These files run CableDyn inside OpenFAST, maintained by NLR (National Laboratory of the Rockies, formerly NREL).

File	What it is
openfast/IEA-15-UMaine_CompMooring5_CableDyn.fst	IEA-15MW VolturnUS-S template with CompMooring = 5 — Tutorial 9 — A floating wind turbine in OpenFAST
openfast/CableDyn_UMaine.dat	its CableDyn MooringFile: three R4 chains, dtM = DT
openfast/IEA-15-UMaine_CompMooring3_MoorDyn.fst	the same model with stock MoorDyn (CompMooring = 3)
openfast/MoorDyn_UMaine.dat	its stock MoorDyn v2 deck (also readable by CableDyn, see Migrating from MoorDyn or OrcaFlex)
openfast/CableDyn_UMaine_rod.dat, openfast/MoorDyn_UMaine_rod.dat	lines 1 and 2 hung from the ends of a Coupled 100 m pontoon rod between their fairleads, with its stock MoorDyn twin (the coupled-rod comparison)
openfast/IEA-15-UMaine_CompMooring5_CableDyn_LineFailure.fst, openfast/CableDyn_UMaine_line_failure.dat	the CompMooring = 5 model with a FAILURE row: line 1 breaks at its fairlead at t = 100 s of a 400 s run (accidental limit state)
openfast/README.md	file roles and where to obtain the turbine sub-models
iea15mw_umaine_mixed_cabledyn.dat	three chains plus a finite-EI lazy-wave power cable with a grounded tail (mixed route). As a MooringFile it runs coupled; with CableDyn_driver.exe it writes the held-end statics (TMax = 0, < 1 s) or marches the held system when TMax > 0
iea15mw_umaine_openfast_cabledyn.dat	an OpenFAST-only MooringFile for the same platform. Its fairleads are caller-driven and its water depth is host-owned, so CableDyn_driver.exe solves it with held fairleads and no seabed, which is not the moored configuration, and warns that the lines hang below their anchors; use spread_3line_chain.dat for the standalone equivalent

The turbine model itself (ElastoDyn, SeaState, HydroDyn, WAMIT data) comes from OpenFAST’s r-test; Tutorial 9 — A floating wind turbine in OpenFAST gives the exact steps.

Auxiliary data

These files are inputs referenced by decks, not decks:

• data/syrope/syrope_settings.dat — Syrope settings (names the OWC table, curve type, and shape parameters); data/syrope/syrope_owc.dat — the original working-curve table. Paths are relative to the referring file; copy all three Syrope files together.

• data/lozon/gomex80_heave_3m_12s_dt005.txt — the prescribed hang-off motion; data/lozon/generate_gomex80_heave.py — the script that writes it.

• data/vessel/vessel_surge_heave_pitch_12s_dt005.txt — the 6-DOF vessel record of lazy_wave_vessel_motion.dat; data/vessel/generate_vessel_motion.py writes it; data/vessel/sample_rao.txt — the illustrative RAO table of lazy_wave_vessel_rao.dat.

• data/range_tdp/chain_surge_5m_30s_dt005.txt — the fairlead surge of chain_range_tdp.dat; data/range_tdp/generate_chain_surge.py writes it.

• data/torsion/hangoff_roll_2turns_60s_dt01.txt — the held hang-off with its roll column of torsion_lazy_wave_hangoff_twist.dat; data/torsion/generate_hangoff_roll.py writes it.

• moordynC_wavekin/wave_frequencies.txt and moordynC_wavekin/current_profile.txt — the MoorDyn-C kinematics files, read from the folder of the deck beside them.

• plot_range_envelope.py — plots the tension envelope of a range-graph file.