Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis of Crack Tip of Rubber-Like Material

It has been well known that rubber-like material can undergo large deformation and exhibit large nonlinear elastic behavior. Because of the geometrically nonlinear of rubber like material, it is more difficult to analyze it with finite element near the notch tip. What is more, because there are varieties of the strain energy functions, implementation of these models in a general finite element program to meet the need of industry applications can be time consuming. In order to make use of the constitutive equation of Y.C. Gao in 1997 and analyze the notch tip of rubber-like material, a framework to implement the rubber-like material model is established within the general-purpose finite element program MSC.Marc. It will be very convenient to implement this isotropic hyperelastic model into the program with a user subroutine. This paper starts with the theoretical analysis based on the strain energy function given by Y.C. Gao in 1997. A user subroutine is programmed to implement this strain energy function into the program of MSC.Marc, which offer a convenient method to analyze the stress and strain of rubber-like material with the strain energy function that is needed. Though analysis with MSC.Marc, it is found that the result with finite element is consistent with the analytical result that given by Y.C. Gao in 1997, which testify that analyzing rubber like material with this method is reasonable and convenient.