Short term stresses during an installation can be caused by pulling the cable through ducts, around bends, back tension on the payoff reel, etc. Installation tensile strengths in excess of 2,700 Newton's (600 pounds) are not recommended, regardless of the tensile load. For fiber optic cable, the tensile strength of a cable represents the highest load or pulling force that can be placed upon any cable before any damage occurs to the fibers or their optical properties and characteristics. This is not the cable breaking strength, but a realistic allowable limit. Proper tensile strength testing helps you prevent cable damage and maintain network. Mechanical reliability of silica-based optical fibers in an optical communication sys-tem is limited by the fatigue effect. While a small percentage, we can examine the “intrinsic” cable failures and what is done to prevent. The mechanical integrity of fiber optic cables, particularly their tensile strength characteristics, has become increasingly critical as deployment environments become more demanding. Traditional installations in controlled environments have given way to harsh outdoor conditions, underwater.
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