Boltzmann superposition principle material functions

The simplest theoretical model proposed to predict the strain response to a complex stress history is the Boltzmann Superposition Principle. Basically this principle proposes that for a linear viscoelastic material, the strain response to a complex loading history is simply the algebraic sum of the strains due to each step in load. Implied in this principle is the idea that the behaviour of a plastic is a function of its entire loading history. There are two situations to consider. 

A viscoelastic solid is characterized by the fact that its modulus E is a function of time. Thus, the response of the material to a loading program, s(t) or d(t) needs the application of the Boltzmann superposition principle (Sec. 11.1). In the case of programmed strain ... 

Chapters 5 and 6 discuss how the mechanical characteristics of a material (solid, liquid, or viscoelastic) can be defined by comparing the mean relaxation time and the time scale of both creep and relaxation experiments, in which the transient creep compliance function and the transient relaxation modulus for viscoelastic materials can be determined. These chapters explain how the Boltzmann superposition principle can be applied to predict the evolution of either the deformation or the stress for continuous and discontinuous mechanical histories in linear viscoelasticity. Mathematical relationships between transient compliance functions and transient relaxation moduli are obtained, and interrelations between viscoelastic functions in the time and frequency domains are given. 

The most commonly used model is the Boltzmann superposition principle, which proposes that for a linear viscoelastic material the entire loading history contributes to the strain response, and the latter is simply given by the algebraic sum of the strains due to each step in the load. The principle may be expressed as follows. If an equation for the strain is obtained as a function of time under a constant stress, then the modulus as a function of time may be expressed as... 

Boltzmann superposition principle A basis for the description of all linear viscoelastic phenomena. No such theor) is available to serve as a basis for the interpretation of nonlinear phenomena—to describe flows in which neither the strain nor the strain rate is small. As a result, no general valid formula exists for calculating values for one material function on the basis of experimental data from another. However, limited theories have been developed. See kinetic theory viscoelasticity, nonlinear, bomb See plasticator safety. 

Once modifications to functions of this kind have been made, the Boltzmann superposition principle can no longer be assumed to apply, and there is no simple replacement for it. This marks a significant change in the level of difficulty when moving from linear to non-linear theory. In the linear case, the material behaviour is defined fully by single-step creep and stress relaxation, and the result of any other stress or strain history then can be calculated using the Boltzmann integral. In the non-linear case we have lost the Boltzmann equation, and it is not even clear what measurements are needed for a full definition of the material. 

In a linear viscoelastic material, the moduli and compliances (t), G(t), D(t), and J t) (tensile and shear modulus and tensile and shear comphance respectively) are functions of t, although they remain independent of stress or strain. Development of constitutive equations for such materials is generally based on the idea that the effects of small increases in stress or strain are additive, which is known as the Boltzmann superposition principle [4, 10, 11]. A strain e(t) may be considered to result from a sum of step strains applied at time u and maintained for a time t-u[Eq.(31)j. 

In Chapter 5, we introduced linear viscoelasticity. In this scheme, the observed creep or stress relaxation behaviour can be viewed as the defining characteristic of the material. The creep compliance function - the ratio of creep strain e t) to the constant stress a - is a function of time only and is denoted as J t). Similarly and necessarily, the stress relaxation modulus, the ratio of stress to the constant strain, is the function G(r). Any system in which these two conditions do not apply is non-linear. Then, the many useful and elegant properties associated with the linear theory, notably the Boltzmann superposition principle, no longer apply and theories to predict stress or strain are approximations that must be supported by experiment. 

A corner-stone of the theory of linear viscoelasticity is the Boltzmann superposition principle. It allows the state of stress or strain in a viscoelastic body to be determined from knowledge of its entire deformation history. The basic assumption is that during viscoelastic deformation in which the applied stress is varied, the overall deformation can be determined from the algebraic sum of strains due to each loading step. Before the use of the principle can be demonstrated it is necessary, first of all, to define a parameter known as the creep compliance J(t) which is a function only of time. It allows the strain after a given time e(t) to be related to the applied stress or for a linear viscoelastic material since... 

The Phenomenology of the Linear Theory of Viscoelasticity. One of the powers of the linear viscoelasticity theory is that it is predictive. The constitutive law that comes from Boltzmann superposition theory requires simply that the material functions discussed above be known for a given material. Then, for an arbitrary stress or deformation history, the material response can be obtained. In addition, the elastic-viscoelastic correspondence principle can be used so that boundary value problems such as beam bending, for which an elastic solution exists, can be solved for linear viscoelastic materials as well. Both of these subjects are treated in this section. 

We can interrelate the relaxation and creep functions and the dynamic moduli and compliances via Boltzmann s superposition principle which states that all effects of past history can be considered independently in their contributions to the present state of the (linear) viscoelastic material. Thus, if one subjects the material to, say, incremental strains yo — 0), (y — y ),.. . , (y y -1) at times , ... 

---