A Robust, Compressible, Hyperelastic Constitutive Model for the Mechanical Response of Foamed Rubber

Abstract

An overview of the roles that cellular elastomers play in engineered systems and the phenomenology of these materials is presented. Available data on these materials and empirical modeling approaches that have been used to approximate the mechanical response of these materials is then considered. The Compressible, Hyperelastic, Isotropic, Porosity-based Foam model (CHIPFoam), a model developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) with a simple micromechanical basis, is then described, and its ability to fit available data is demonstrated. Finally, extensions and improvements to the model and the additional predictivity to be achieved with these extensions are discussed.