Determination of dissipated energy fields from temperature mappings on a rubber-like structural sample: Experiments and comparison to numerical simulations. (January 2015) - Masquelier, I.
Abstract: The main goal of this paper is to provide an experimental way to deduce the field of dissipated energy from the measurement of the temperature field. The case studied is a structural sample ( i.e. with a circular notch) in order to test the ability of the protocol to describe heterogeneous energy fields. The material chosen is a filled synthetic elastomer in order to investigate the case of large displacements. Moreover, very thin samples are used to reduce the solving of the thermo-mechanical problem to a 2D investigation. To reach high enough spatial and thermal resolutions the protocol suggested takes advantage of the low thermal conductivity of the material and of a very precise calibration of the infrared camera used to record the temperature fields. The paper suggests a protocol based on an adiabatic assumption and investigates its capabilities and range of validity. A very accurate description of the severe gradients of the fields of dissipated energy can be obtained. In order to evaluate the reliability of the experimental fields, a numerical approach is applied using a simple yet robust dissipation modelling. Finally, the experimental fields of displacement and of dissipated energy are compared with the ones obtained from the numerical simulation.