Paper number 196

MODELING THE MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF FABRIC-REINFORCED RUBBER-LIKE MATERIALS

P.Y. Manach

Laboratoire Génie Mécanique et Matériaux, Université de Bretagne Sud
2 rue le Coat Saint Haouen, 56325 Lorient Cedex (France)

Summary

The paper presents a theoretical and numerical model applicable to large strain analysis of composite materials such as exible hoses. A three-dimensional constitutive law which uses the concept of convected coordinate frame is developed for materials presenting elastic and orthotropic behaviors in the large deformation _eld. The proposed model is implemented in a _nite element code and numerical examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the model and the numerical algorithms. Finally, in order to compare our numerical results, an experimental device is developed to exhibit the mechanical behavior of straight exible hoses in the case of elementary tests. The model is then compared to these experimental results.

Keywords

orthotropy, hyperelasticity, convected coordinates, fabric-reinforced rubber, flexible hose, large deformations.