Bulging bifurcation of inflated circular cylinders of doubly fiber-reinforced hyperelastic material under axial loading and swelling

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the influence of swelling on the bulging bifurcation of inflated thin-walled cylinders under axial loading. We provide the bifurcation criteria for a membrane cylinder subjected to combined axial loading, internal pressure and swelling. We focus here on orthotropic materials with two preferred directions which are mechanically equivalent and are symmetrically disposed. Arterial wall tissue is modeled with this class of constitutive equation and the onset of bulging is considered to give aneurysm formation. It is shown that swelling may lead to compressive hoop stresses near the inner radius of the tube, which could have a potential benefit for preventing aneurysm formation. The effects of the axial stretch, the strength of the fiber reinforcement and the fiber winding angle on the onset of bifurcation are investigated. Finally, a boundary value problem is studied to show the robustness of the results.