Non-linear viscoelastodynamic equations of three-dimensional rotating structures in finite displacement and finite element discretization

This paper deals with the non-linear viscoelastodynamics of three-dimensional rotating structure undergoing finite displacement. In addition, the non-linear dynamics is studied with respect to geometrical and mechanical perturbations. On part of the boundary of the structure, a rigid body displacement field is applied which moves the structure in a rotation motion. A time-dependent Dirichlet condition is applied to another part of the boundary. For instance, this corresponds to the cycle step of a helicopter rotor blade. A surface force field is applied to the third part of the boundary and depends on the time history of the structural displacement field. For example, this might corresponds to general unsteady aerodynamics forces applied to the structure. The objective of this paper is to model the non-linear dynamic behavior of such a rotating viscoelastic structure undergoing finite displacements, and to allow small geometrical and mechanical (mass, constitutive equations) perturbations analysis to be performed. The model is constructed by the introduction of a reference configuration which is deduced from the non-linear steady boundary value problem. A constitutive equation deduced from the Coleman and Noll theory concerning the viscoelasticity in finite displacement is used. Thereafter, the weak formulation of the boundary value problem is constructed and discretized using the finite element method. In order to simplify the mathematical study of the equations, multilinear forms are introduced in the algebraic calculation and their mathematical properties are presented.