Instabilities in a compressible hyperelastic cylindrical channel due to internal pressure and external constraints

Pressurised cylindrical channels made of soft materials are ubiquitous in biological systems, soft robotics, and metamaterial designs. In this paper, we study large deformation of a long, thick-walled, and compressible hyperelastic cylindrical channel under internal pressure. The applied pressure can lead to elastic bifurcations along the axial or circumferential direction. Incremental theory is used to derive the partial differential equations that govern the bifurcation behaviour of the cylindrical channel. Two cases of boundary conditions on the outer surface of the cylinder, namely, free and constrained are studied to understand their influence on the buckling behaviour. The derived equations are solved numerically using the compound matrix method to evaluate the critical pressure. The effects of the thickness of the cylinder and the compressibility of the material on the critical pressure are investigated for both the boundary conditions. The results reveal that for an isotropic material, the bifurcation occurs along the axial direction of the cylinder at lower critical pressure compared to the circumferential direction for all cases considered. Finally, we demonstrate the tailorability of bifurcation behaviour of the cylinder by adding reinforcements along the length of cylinder. The anisotropic hyperelastic material behaviour for triggering the bifurcation in the circumferential direction is studied by varying the material parameters.