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A computational framework for incompressible electromechanics based on convex multi-variable strain energies for geometrically exact shell theory
Rogelio Ortigosa,
Antonio Gil 
Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, Volume: 317, Pages: 792 - 816
Swansea University Author:
Antonio Gil
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DOI (Published version): 10.1016/j.cma.2016.12.034
Abstract
In this paper, a new computational framework for the analysis of incompressible Electro Active Polymer (EAP) shells subjected to large strains and large electric fields is presented. Two novelties are incorporated in this work. First, the variational and constitutive frameworks developed by the auth...
| Published in: | Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering |
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| ISSN: | 0045-7825 |
| Published: |
2017
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| Online Access: |
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa31569 |
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| Abstract: |
In this paper, a new computational framework for the analysis of incompressible Electro Active Polymer (EAP) shells subjected to large strains and large electric fields is presented. Two novelties are incorporated in this work. First, the variational and constitutive frameworks developed by the authors in recent publications (Gil and Ortigosa, 2016; Ortigosa and Gil, 2016; Ortigosa et al., 2016)[1–4] in the context of three-dimensional electromechanics are particularised/degenerated to the case of geometrically exact shell theory. This formulation is computationally very convenient as EAPs are typically used as thin shell-like components in a vast range of applications. The proposed formulation follows a rotationless description of the kinematics of the shell, enhanced with extra degrees of freedom corresponding to the thickness stretch and the hydrostatic pressure, critical for the consideration of incompressibility. Different approaches are investigated for the interpolation of these extra fields and that of the electric potential across the thickness of the shell. Crucially, this allows for the simulation of multilayer and composite materials, which can display a discontinuous strain distribution across their thickness. As a second novelty, a continuum degenerate approach allows for the consideration of complex three-dimensional electromechanical constitutive models, as opposed to those defined in terms of the main strain measures of the shell. More specifically, convex multi-variable (three-dimensional) constitutive models, complying with the ellipticity condition and hence, satisfying material stability for the entire range of deformations and electric fields, are used for the first time in the context of shell theory. |
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| Keywords: |
Electro Active Polymers; Geometrically exact shell theory; Material stability; Shell |
| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |
| Start Page: |
792 |
| End Page: |
816 |