On damage modelling for elastic and viscoelastic materials at large strain

Geometrical and different physical nonlinearities have to be taken into acc ount in order to model elastomeric material. In the present contribution, a novel approach of rubber elasticity is introduced. The approach considers the topological constraints as well as the limited extensibility of network chains in filled rubber. Subsequently, a formulation of finite viscoelasti c damage is derived. With this description at hand. softening effects as we ll as time and frequency dependency of the material can be characterized. T he goal of the present paper is twofold. Firstly, the constitutive formulat ions are introduced. Moreover. computational aspects are stressed. The show n approaches are presented in a format ready for a finite element implement ation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.