Parameter determination and response analysis of viscoelastic material

The parameter determination of viscoelastic material is a multi-variable, multi-aim nonlinear optimization problem, which made the optimization process very complicated. In this paper a hybrid optimal algorithm was proposed to determine the viscoelastic parameters in the constitutive relation according to the experimentally obtained mechanical properties. This algorithm merges the Broydon–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno search into a genetic algorithm framework as a basic operator in order to enhance the local search capability. The proposed hybrid algorithm not only can reduce the iterative times greatly but can abolish the limitation of initial parameter values. Nonlinear material characteristic curve-fitting was carried out using the proposed algorithm and other existing approaches. And the comparison results show this algorithm is accurate and effective. The numerical simulation and experimental study of viscoelastic cantilever beam also indicates that the finite element formulation and the calculative viscoelastic model parameters are reliable. The proposed optimization method can be extended to further complex parameter estimation researches.