Theory Of Viscoelasticity

Integration of theoretical developments offers complete description of linear theory of viscoelastic behavior of materials, with theoretical formulations derived from continuum mechanics viewpoint and discussions of problem solving. 1982 edition.

This book contains notes for a one-semester course on viscoelasticity given in the Division of Applied Mathematics at Brown University. The course serves as an introduction to viscoelasticity and as a workout in the use of various standard mathematical methods. The reader will soon find that he needs to do some work on the side to fill in details that are omitted from the text. These are notes, not a completely de tailed explanation. Furthermore, much of the content of the course is in the prob lems assigned for solution by the student. The reader who does not at least try to solve a good many of the problems is likely to miss most of the point. Much that is known about viscoelasticity is not discussed in these notes, and references to original sources are usually not given, so it will be difficult or impossible to use this book as a reference for looking things up. Readers wanting something more like a treatise should see Ferry's Viscoelastic Properties of Polymers, Lodge's Elastic Liquids, the volumes edited by Eirich on Rheology, or any issue of the Transactions of the Society of Rheology. These works emphasize physical aspects of the subject. On the mathematical side, Gurtin and Sternberg's long paper On the Linear Theory of Viscoelasticity (ARMA~, 291(1962)) remains the best reference for proofs of theorems.

One of the principal objects of theoretical research in any department of knowledge is to find the point of view from which the subject appears in its greatest simplicity. J. Willard Gibbs This book is an outgrowth of lectures I have given, on and off over some sixteen years, in graduate courses at the California Institute of Technology, and, in abbreviated form, elsewhere. It is, nevertheless, not meant to be a textbook. I have aimed at a full exposition of the phenomenological theory of linear viscoelastic behavior for the use of the practicing scientist or engineer as well as the academic teacher or student. The book is thus primarily a reference work. In accord with the motto above, I have chosen to describe the theory of linear viscoelastic behavior through the use of the Laplace transformation. The treatment oflinear time-dependent systems in terms of the Laplace transforms of the relations between the excitation add response variables has by now become commonplace in other fields. With some notable exceptions, it has not been widely used in viscoelasticity. I hope that the reader will find this approach useful.

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to polymer rheology with a focus on the viscoelastic characterization of polymeric materials. It contains various numerical algorithms for the processing of viscoelastic data, from basic principles to advanced examples which are hard to find in the existing literature. The book takes a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the viscoelasticity of polymers, and is self-contained, including the essential mathematics, continuum mechanics, polymer science and statistical mechanics needed to understand the theories of polymer viscoelasticity. It covers recent achievements in polymer rheology, such as theoretical and experimental aspects of large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS), and numerical methods for linear viscoelasticity, as well as new insights into the interpretation of experimental data. Although the book is balanced between the theoretical and experimental aspects of polymer rheology, the author’s particular interest in the theoretical side will not remain hidden. Aimed at readers familiar with the mathematics and physics of engineering at an undergraduate level, the multidisciplinary approach employed enables researchers with various scientific backgrounds to expand their knowledge of polymer rheology in a systematic way.

This concise introduction to the concepts of viscoelasticity focuses on stress analysis. Three detailed sections present examples of stress-related problems, including sinusoidal oscillation problems, quasi-static problems, and dynamic problems. 1960 edition.

This concise introduction to the concepts of viscoelasticity focuses on stress analysis. Three detailed sections present examples of stress-related problems, including sinusoidal oscillation problems, quasi-static problems, and dynamic problems. 1960 edition.

No mathematical theory can completely describe the complex world around us. Every theory is aimed at a certain class of phenomena, formulates their essential features, and disregards what is of minor importance. The theory meets its limits of applicability where a dis regarded influence becomes important. Thus, rigid-body dynamics describes in many cases the motion of actual bodies with high accu racy, but it fails to produce more than a few general statements in the case of impact, because elastic or anelastic deformation, no matter how local or how small, attains a dominating influence. For a long time mechanics of deformable bodies has been based upon Hooke's law - that is, upon thE" assumption of linear elasticity. It was well known that most engineering materials like metals, con crde, wood, soil, are not linearly elastic or, are so within limits too narrow to cover tne range of pl'actical intcrest. Nevertheless, almost all routine stress analysis is still based on Hooke T s law be cause of its simplicity. In the course of time engineers have become increasingly con scious of the importance of the anelastic behavior of many materials, and mathematical formulations have been attempted and applied to practical problems. Outstanding among them are the theories of ide ally plastic and of viscoelastic materials. While plastic behavior is essentially nonlinear (piecewise linear at best), viscoelasticity, like elasticity, permits a linear theory. This theory of linear visco elasticity is the subject of tbe present book.