Modeling Methodology for Elastomer Dynamics

Abstract

As engineering applications of elastomers increase in complexity, knowledge of the behavior of these materials, and the ability to predict these behaviors, becomes increasingly valuable. Elastomers exhibit a complex variety of mechanical properties, including nonlinear constitutive laws, strong damping and hysteresis (loss of kinetic and potential energy, respectively), and the dependence of strain on its history. Most current models for rubber-like materials assume a form of the strain energy function (SEF), such as a cubic Mooney-Rivlin form or an Ogden form. While these methods can produce good results, they are only applicable to static behavior, and they ignore hysteresis and damping. We discuss a dynamic partial differential equation (PDE) formulation based on large deformation theory elasticity as an alternative approach to the SEF formulation. Models using the PDE formulation are presented for both simple extension and generalized simple shear.KeywordsSimple ShearReference ConfigurationFinite StrainStrain Energy FunctionPrincipal StretchThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.