(251f) Finite Element Modeling of Cavitation in a Soft Material

Finite Element Modeling of Cavitation in a Soft Material

Satish Mishra, Mahla Zabet, Seyed Meysam Hashemnejad, and Santanu Kundu

Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering, Mississippi State University, MS State, MS

Pressurization of defect inside a soft material results in cavitation or fracture and subsequent failure of the material.  The critical pressure for cavitation depends on the local mechanical properties of soft materials and surface energy related to the creation of new surfaces. Experimental techniques have been developed to harness the cavitation phenomena in characterizing soft materials’ mechanical properties. However, the exact analytical relationship that connects the critical pressure to the local elastic modulus is a subject of active research.   Here, we report the application of finite element modeling to capture the experimentally observed cavitation phenomena in soft materials. Results for various constitutive equations including neo-Hookean and Gent models will be reported. In addition, the effect of defect/crack length and boundary conditions around the crack, surface energy on the cavitation phenomena will be presented.  The modeling results will be compared with the experimental data obtained for physically associative, triblock copolymer gel.