Stress Relaxation Analysis of Polyurethane Foam Preloaded Structures

Based on the nonlinear finite element analysis method, FEA models which describe the viscoelastic friction contact state of the polyurethane foam preloaded structures are created. In the simulations, the general Maxwell viscoelastic constitutive relation is introduced and a seven-parameter general Maxwell viscoelastic model is used to fit the experimental stress relaxation curve of polyurethane foam. During the nonlinear contact analysis, coulomb friction law is adopted, and the effects of the coulomb friction coefficient on the reaction force in the axial direction are analyzed. The FE results show that the change tendencies of relation curves of the structures are similar to which of the polyurethane foams. In the end, the influences of stiffness ratio of polyurethane foam to the outer component on the structural relaxed force are discussed, and the FE results indicate that the stiffness ratios affect the stress (force) relaxation degree remarkably. That is to say a good structure design could optimize the mechanical performance of the complicated structures greatly.