Numerical finite element formulation of the Schapery non-linear viscoelastic material model

This study presents a numerical integration method for the non-linear viscoelastic behaviour of isotropic materials and structures. The Schapery's three-dimensional (3D) non-linear viscoelastic material model is integrated within a displacement-based finite element (FE) environment. The deviatoric and volumetric responses are decoupled and the strain vector is decomposed into instantaneous and hereditary parts. The hereditary strains are updated at the end of each time increment using a recursive formulation. The constitutive equations are expressed in an incremental form for each time step, assuming a constant incremental strain rate. A new iterative procedure with predictor-corrector type steps is combined with the recursive integration method. A general polynomial form for the parameters of the non-linear Schapery model is proposed. The consistent algorithmic tangent stiffness matrix is realized and used to enhance convergence and help achieve a correct convergent state. Verifications of the proposed numerical formulation are performed and compared with a previous work using experimental data for a glassy amorphous polymer PMMA. Copyright (C) 2003 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.