On material representation and constitutive branching in finite compressible elasticity

The mechanical properties of two porous rubbers of different compressibility have been investigated experimentally and represented by aid of a particular isotropic strain-energy function constructed by means of separable distortional and dilatational terms. It is shown that a reduced form of the adopted strain-energy function offers definite advantages for evaluation of experimental data and reproduces well the behaviour of the investigated materials under three different loadings; uniaxial tension, plane strain tension and equibiaxial tension. The possibility of homogeneous branching from fundamental paths of the associated motions is examined and illustrated in detail for axisymmetric loading employing constitutive properties pertinent to the two materials tested.     

On the volumetric part of strain-energy functions used in the constitutive modeling of slightly compressible solid rubbers

A popular model for the finite element simulation of slightly compressible solid rubber-like materials assumes that the strain-energy function can be additively decomposed into a volumetric part and a deviatoric part. Based on mathematical convenience, the volumetric part is usually assumed to be a finite polynomial in the volume change. Experimental evidence suggests that for solid rubbers in compression, this polynomial can be taken to be a simple quadratic for moderate deformations and that this function also adequately models the volume change and the stress/stretch relation for materials in simple tension, up to stretches of order 100%. For larger tensile deformations, however, experimental data suggest that the Cauchy stress-volume change relation has an increasingly large slope and therefore a truncated Taylor series expansion is not the most appropriate. A rational function approach is proposed here as an alternative.     

A family of solutions describing plane strain cylindrical inflation in finite compressible elasticity

Within the context of finite, compressible, isotropic elasticity, a family of solutions describing plane strain cylindrical inflation of cylindrical shells is obtained for a class of materials that includes both the harmonic and Varga materials. Additionally it is shown that the class of materials chsen is the largest class of materials for which the family of solutions is possible.     

Heuristic search for a predictive strain-energy function in nonlinear elasticity

In this work, a new, quasi-structural model – bootstrapped eight-chain model – is proposed as a modification to the strain energy of eight-chain model [Arruda, E.M., Boyce, M.C., 1993. A three-dimensional constitutive model for the large stretch behaviour of rubber elastic materials. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 41, 389—412] that invokes the Langevin chain statistics. This development has been led to by our heuristic search into how the strain energy of eight-chain model may be adapted in order to account better for the mechanical behaviour of elastomeric materials in both linear and nonlinear elastic regimes [Treloar, L.R.G., 1944. Stress–strain data for vulcanised rubber under various types of deformation. Trans. Faraday Soc. 40, 59–70]. The eight-chain model appears to produce very similar results in predicting biaxial stress to those of a first stretch-invariant model that gives a good fit in uniaxial extension and, thus, it is shown that the former can not be significantly enhanced within the limitation of the latter. Evaluation of predictive capability for an additive invariant-separated form of strain energy shows that an explicit inclusion of a second stretch-invariant function would not work and that any thus added term ought to be dependent on both the first and second stretch-invariants of deformation tensor, and hints that an improvement is possibly needed at low strain. The composite and filament models [Miroshnychenko, D., Green, W.A., Turner, D.M., 2005. Composite and filament models for the mechanical behaviour of elastomeric materials. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 53 (4), 748–770] have their strain-energy functions in that suggested form and cope very well with predicting the experimental data of Treloar (1944). We use the form of strain energy for the filament model, that proved to be successful, to bootstrap the strain energy of eight-chain model in order to improve the performance of the latter at low strain. Thus, we derive a new model – bootstrapped eight-chain model – that requires only two material parameters – a rubber modulus and a limiting chain extensibility. The proposed model is quasi-structural due to bootstrapping and it retains the best traits and corrects the faults of the eight-chain model, conforming more closely to the classical experimental data of Treloar (1944).     

The radial compaction of a hyperelastic tube as a benchmark in compressible finite elasticity

The stress solution to the radial compaction of a hyperelastic tube is developed analytically for both incompressible and slightly compressible material response. The solution is explicit for the incompressible behaviour and implicit for the compressible one. It is shown that proper combination of tube geometry and total compaction leads to stress results very sensitive to small variations of Poisson's ratio. This makes the problem a good benchmark for the performance of numerical methods in the area of compressible finite elasticity. As an example, the commercial finite element code ABAQUS is applied to a demanding tube configuration for Poisson's ratios in the range from 0.49 to 0.5.     

The relation between the Valanis-Landel and classical strain-energy functions

Necessary and sufficient conditions are derived for the strain-energy function of an isotropic elastic solid, regarded as a function of the strain invariants, to be expressible in the Valanis-Landel form, both when the material is compressible and when it is incompressible. In the case when the Valanis-Landel strain-energy function is a polynomial in squares of the principal extension ratios, explicit representations as polynomials in the basic isotropic strain invariants are obtained.     

Finite strain solutions in compressible isotropic elasticity

Three classes of compressible isotropic elastic solids are introduced, for each of which the strain energy, expressed as a function of the three principal invariants of the stretch tensors, is linear in two of its arguments and nonlinear in the third argument. One of these is the class of harmonic materials. Several deformation fields are examined, for which the governing equations, for general compressible isotropic elastic response, reduce to a nonlinear ordinary differential equation. For the three special classes of materials, this differential equation may be solved in closed form, giving a deformation field which is independent of the material response function, or its solution may be reduced to a single quadrature, involving the nonlinear material response function.     

Energetic bounds in finite elasticity

Summary We study the conditions under which the internal work of deformation in an elastic isotropic body in finite deformations may be bounded by results obtained from a suitably defined linear infinitesimal problem. The values of the constants appearing in the principal inequalities are calculated and discussed for a certain class of extensional deformations.     

Neo-Hookean fiber-reinforced composites in finite elasticity

The response of a transversely isotropic fiber-reinforced composite made out of two incompressible neo-Hookean phases undergoing finite deformations is considered. An expression for the effective energy-density function of the composite in terms of the properties of the phases and their spatial distribution is developed. For the out-of-plane shear and extension modes this expression is based on an exact solution for the class of composite cylinder assemblages. To account for the in-plane shear mode we incorporate an exact result that was recently obtained for a special class of transversely isotropic composites. In the limit of small deformation elasticity the expression for the effective behavior agrees with the well-known Hashin-Shtrikman bounds. The predictions of the proposed constitutive model are compared with corresponding numerical simulation of a composite with a hexagonal unit cell. It is demonstrated that the proposed model accurately captures the overall response of the periodic composite under any general loading modes.     

Inhomogeneous inverse problem in finite elasticity

For a class of materials for which the principal strain directions always coincide with the principal stress directions one can determine the stress field in an inhomogeneously deformed body from given boundary conditions and a known strain field without knowing the constitutive equations. Each point of the inhomogeneously deformed body contains information such as that derived from an individual homogeneous identification test. The practically important two-dimensional case leads to a problem of solving a linear hyperbolic system where two differential equations describe the principal stress components. The problem can be reduced to that of integration along characteristics.Under a certain globality condition the existence, uniqueness, and correctness of the solution are guaranteed in the whole test piece. It is shown that the globality condition is closely related to whether or not the test piece is isotropic and elastic. The influence of experimental error on the correctness of problem formulation is discussed.

---

Abstrakte Für die Klasse der Materialen, für welche die Grundspannungsrichtungen und die Grundverformungsrichtungen gleich sind, kann man das Spannungsfeld in einem inhomogen deformierten Körper für gegebene Randbedingungen und einem bekannten Verformungsfeld ohne Kenntnis der detailierten Form der Dehnungs-Spannungsgleichung bestimmen. Jeder Punkt des inhomogen deformierten Körpers liefert dieselbe Information wie ein individueller homogener Test. Der praktisch wichtige zweidimensionale Fall führt zu einem Problem der Lösung eines linear hyperbolischen Systems von zwei Differentialgleichungen für die Grundspannungskomponenten. Das Problem kann auf die Integration entlang der Charakteristik des Systems reduziert werden.Unter einer Bedingung der Globalität das die Existent, Eindeutigkeit und Richtigkeit der Lösung in der ganzen Testprobe gewährleistet sind. Es wird gezeigt, dass diese Globalitätsbedingung damit zusammenhängt eng, ob die Testprobe isotrop und elastisch ist. Der Einfluss der experimentellen Fehler auf die Richtigkeit der Formulation des Problems wird auch analysiert.

     

Dual reciprocal states in finite elasticity

For certain equilibrium states of an elastic body dual states (in the sense of Hill [1] and Ogden [2]) can be constructed, roughly speaking by interchanging the roles of stress and deformation. Furthermore, for each of the original and dual states, a reciprocal state (in the sense of Adkins [3] and Shield [4]) can be found by interchanging initial and final coordinates. Although the resulting reciprocal states are not dually related, a closed chain of eight dual and reciprocal states can be constructed. In the case of plane strain simple formulae relating the strain-energy functions for all eight states can be written down.     

Bui's path-independent integral in finite elasticity

A path-independent integral has been stated by Bui in the presence of a straight crack in a two-dimensional deformation field. Such an integral isdual to the Rice integral in the sense that it is based on the complementary stress energy density. Here we establish a boundary-independent integral in finite elasticity from which Bui's result follows as a particular case.

---

Sommario Un integrale indipendente dal cammino intorno al vertice di una frattura in un campo di deformazione bi-dimensionale è stato stabilito da Bui. Tale integrale èduale all'integrale di Rice, nel senso che si basa sulla densità di energia complementare o degli sforzi. Qui si propone un integrale invariante in un continuo tridimensionale soggetto a deformazioni finite. Si mostra che il risultato di Bui segue come caseo particolare.

     

Some research directions in finite elasticity theory

Summary A number of topics in finite elasticity theory which appear to lend themselves to further development were briefly discussed. These include (i) the effect of kinematic constraints which are exactly, or approximately, satisfied; (ii) the mechanics of elastic membranes; (iii) the applicability of results in finite elasticity theory to problems involving stress relaxing materials; (iv) the development of necessary and sufficient conditions for material stability of isotropic elastic materials; (v) the conditions for bifurcation solutions to exist in deformed elastic bodies.

---

Zusammenfassung Es werden einige Themen der nichtlinearen Elastizitätstheorie, die sich für weitere Entwicklungen anbieten, kurz besprochen. Darunter sind (i) die Wirkung kinematischer Zwangsbedingungen, die exakt oder näherungsweise erfüllt werden; (ii) die Mechanik elastischer Membranen; (iii) die Anwendbarkeit von Ergebnissen in der nichtlinearen Elastizitätstheorie auf Probleme, die Materialien mit Spannungsrelaxation einschließen; (iv) die Entwicklung notwendiger und hinreichender Bedingungen für materielle Stabilität isotroper elastischer Materialien; (v) die Bedingungen für die Existenz von Verzweigungslösungen in deformierten elastischen Körpern.

---

---

With 1 figure     

A note on duality in finite elasticity

The duality between stress and deformation fields for plane deformations of a compressible isotropic hyperelastic material established by J. M. Hill [1]is generalized to deformations of a homogeneous elastic material without the restrictions of isotropy and hyperelasticity. At the same time a clarification of Hill's results is achieved.