Constitutive modeling for texture reinforced rubber by using an anisotropic visco-hyperelastic model

Fabric reinforced rubber shows an anisotropy and viscosity in wide strain range. In this paper, an anisotropic visco-elastic model based on Mooney-Rivlin model is developed for fabric reinforced rubber. Anisotropy is introduced, in this constitutive model, by using a structure tensor that shows direction of reinforced fiber. A new strain energy density function for anisotropic elasticity is proposed to improve accuracy associated with shear behaviors. After developing an elastic model, an anisotropic viscosity is modeled by a kind of Maxwell viscosity model at large strains. In addition to the development of constitutive model, a simple fracture prediction method, which refers to the finite element solution incorpolated with our proposed constitutive model, is proposed. Finally, our proposed constitutive model and fracture prediction method are validated with comparisons of uni-axial tension tests with fabric reinforced rubber.