Abstract
High voltage subsea cables are normally sheathed with a
metallic water barrier at voltage levels above 36 kV as
recommended by the standards (IEC 60840). The main
concern with water ingress in power cables is the risk of
water tree formation. Water tree growth will reduce the
lifetime of power cables. For dynamic cable designs
there are today few reliable alternatives to prevent the
water ingress. Here a novel electrical semi-conductive
water barrier is presented, based on a multilayer
polymer sheath design where the arrangement of layers
is based on numerical simulations using measured water
transport data.
metallic water barrier at voltage levels above 36 kV as
recommended by the standards (IEC 60840). The main
concern with water ingress in power cables is the risk of
water tree formation. Water tree growth will reduce the
lifetime of power cables. For dynamic cable designs
there are today few reliable alternatives to prevent the
water ingress. Here a novel electrical semi-conductive
water barrier is presented, based on a multilayer
polymer sheath design where the arrangement of layers
is based on numerical simulations using measured water
transport data.