A Fabric Architecture Based Constitutive Model for Fiber Reinforced Rubbers

Abstract

The focus of this paper is to develop a fabric architecture-based constitutive model for a rubber hose reinforced by knitted fibers. The composite hose is modeled using a representative unit cell (RUC) consisting of a fiber layer embedded in two rubber layers. The rubber is considered as a Neo-Hookean material, while the knitted fibers are modeled by cords with negligible stiffness in bending. The effect of reinforcement comes from the conservation of the total length of the fiber cords. This approach enables the determination of the constitutive behavior of the composite sheet in closed form based on the constituent rubber and fiber properties and geometry.