Evaluation of the efficiency of vibration absorption properties of foam materials based on simulation analysis

Abstract

The paper describes a simulation approach to assessing the optimality of the mechanical characteristics of foam materials. The proposed method is based on the numerical interpolation of the dependence of the mechanical characteristics of foam materials on scale factors, which are obtained based on experimental studies for certain types of foams.

According to the developed methodology, at the first stage, it is necessary to determine the scale effects and mechanical characteristics of the investigated structurally heterogeneous materials based on the experiment. In the second stage, by the change in the dependence of the input data (density and cell size), it is necessary to choose a mathematical model that would allow the most accurate description of the mechanical characteristics' dependence on the material's microstructure. In the third stage, wave propagation speeds in a foam medium under low-frequency loads are calculated based on the obtained analytical formulas. In the fourth and fifth stages, the change in wave propagation speeds in foam media is analyzed.

Based on the constructed model, the values of the mechanical characteristics of foamed materials were calculated when the cell size and material density changed. Based on the formulas for calculating the speed of propagation of a shear-rotation wave, the effect of changing the characteristics of density and cell size on the change in the speed of propagation of a shear-rotation wave in a structurally heterogeneous material was studied. 

The approach proposed in the work, which is based on the method of analytical and numerical modeling in combination with the use of experimental studies, can be used not only for foam but also porous and other types of structurally heterogeneous materials. The advantage of this approach is the possibility to evaluate the change in the mechanical characteristics of foam materials, which are widely used in production, in particular, and in construction, without special laboratory studies. This approach significantly expands the scope of application of foamed polymers and allows them to optimize their use.