A parametric study on the nonlinear dynamic response of paper-based mechanical systems due to liquid transport

Abstract

In recent years, the mechanical response of paper when interacting with liquids has been investigated. Nonlinear phenomena inherent to paper-liquid interaction such as the Young modulus relaxation, hygrostrain and liquid transport have been considered. However, the mechanical response of paper has only been studied for a static or quasi-static bending response. In this work, a parametric study is presented to study the dynamic response of paper-based mechanical systems interacting with liquids. A three-dimensional multiphysics model is implemented and solved in COMSOL® to couple the liquid transport and the mechanical response problem. The Richard’s model and an elasticity formulation are used to describe the liquid transport and the mechanical problem respectively. Three parameters are selected from this model in order to describe the dynamic response of paper. The influence of each parameter on the dynamic response is also determined. This model is validated experimentally with resonance frequency measurements on paper-based cantilever beams using three water–ethanol solutions. The results show that this model can be used to describe the drying process of paper-based devices under dynamic loads. This study can lead to the development of low-cost devices for liquid characterization.