Large deformation analysis of inflated air-spring shell made of rubber-textile cord composite

Abstract

This paper deals with the mechanical behaviour of the thin-walled cylindrical air-spring shell (CAS) made of rubber-textile cord composite (RCC) subjected to different types of loading. An orthotropic hyperelastic constitutive model is presented which can be applied to numerical simulation for the response of biological soft tissue and of the nonlinear anisotropic hyperelastic material of the CAS used in vibroisolation of driver's seat. The parameters of strain energy function of the constitutive model are fitted to the experimental results by the nonlinear least squares method. The deformation of the inflated CAS is calculated by solving the system of five first-order ordinary differential equations with the material constitutive law and proper boundary conditions. Nonlinear hyperelastic constitutive equations of orthotropic composite material are incorporated into the finite strain analysis by finite element method (FEM). The results for the deformation analysis of the inflated CAS made of RCC are given. Numerical results of principal stretches and deformed profiles of the inflated CAS obtained by numerical deformation analysis are compared with experimental ones.