Finite deformations of cylindrical membrane under internal pressure

This paper investigates the large deformations of an extended cylindrical membrane under internal pressure. A detailed experimental analysis is carried out involving different traction forces and/or geometries and the influence of the axial force and the internal pressure in the stability. The membrane used experimentally consisted of an isotropic, homogeneous, incompressible and hyperelastic rubber-like material, which is modeled as Mooney–Rivlin, described by two elastic constants. The comparison between the experimental and numerical results for the membrane under traction is used to identify the material parameters of the model. The numerical analysis of the membrane is done using finite elements by the software ABAQUS. When the extended membrane is filled with air, it is observed that the pressure in the membrane initially increases as the volume of air inside the membrane increases until a certain critical limit pressure is reached, after which it decreases steadily with increasing volume. A parametric analysis is carried out to study the influence of the geometric and load parameter on the overall behavior and stability of the membrane. These experimental results are, as shown in the paper, in satisfactory agreement with the numerical ones.