A NEW INCREMENTAL FORMULATION FOR LINEAR VISCOELASTIC ANALYSIS: CREEP DIFFERENTIAL APPROACH

This paper presents a new incremental formulation in the time domain for linear, non-aging viscoelastic materials undergoing mechanical deformation. The formulation is derived from linear differential equations based on a discrete spectrum representation for the creep tensor. The incremental constitutive equations are then obtained by finite difference integration. Thus the difficulty of retaining the stress history in computer solutions is avoided. A complete general formulation of linear viscoelastic stress analysis is developed in terms of increments of strains and stresses. Numerical results of good accuracy are achieved. The analytical and numerical solutions are compared using the energy release rate in pure mode I and pure mode II.