Comment by amluto
2 days ago
> The cable, if snagged by a ship anchor, would catastrophically fail. Not only would it snap, but the internal stresses would propagate the crack along the entire length.
I can’t this writeup seriously with comments like this. There is no mention of any attempt to calculate the allowable bend radius. Also, quenching a glass tube in a continuous process? Does that work?
The bend radius doesn't actually matter - one can fairly trivially adjust the factory ship to make bends at specific places if desired. Including, if necessary, to fit the contour of the seafloor.
The critical thing is the length of the longest unsupported span - and that's 64 meters, but surface hardening could possibly dramatically extend this, but it seems beyond available literature.