Abstract: To simulate laying process of cable harness, a physical characteristic oriented modeling for
flexible cable harness is proposed based on Cosserat elastic rod theory. The cable’s total energy is
obtained by applying Cosserat elastic rod theory on discrete cable model. The cable’s configuration
with the lowest energy can be obtained by using optimization algorithm, which is the equilibrium
state. The model takes into consideration the flexibility and continuity of the cable, which could
simulate bending and twisting. From the discrete expression of the cable, the cable’s energy can be
calculated by numerical method. And penalty method is used to convert the constraint problem to an
unconstrained problem. The trust region algorithm is implemented to get the configuration of the
cable with minimum potential energy. This method is applied in the simulation of cable laying
process in a virtual environment and a prototype system is developed, and the model is validated by
this system.

Key words: cable harness, physical modeling, laying simulation, Cosserat elastic rod theory, energy
minimizing