Determination of mechanical and hydraulic properties of PVA hydrogels

• We determine the mechanical and hydraulic parameters of PVA hydrogels.
• The identification method follows the solution of inverse problem.
• Mathematical model of poroelastic material is used for unconfined creep test.
• We use global optimization method for parameter identification.

In this paper the identification of mechanical and hydraulic parameters of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogels is described. The identification method follows the solution of inverse problem using experimental data from the unconfined compression test and the poroelastic creep model. The sensitivity analysis of the model shows significant dependence of the creep curves on investigated parameters. The hydrogels containing 22% PVA and 25% PVA were tested giving: the drained Youngs modulus of 0.71 and 0.9 MPa; the drained Poisson's ratio of 0.18 and 0.31; and the permeability of 3.64 · 10− 15 and 3.29 · 10 15 m4/Ns, respectively. The values of undrained Youngs modulus were determined by measuring short period deformation of samples in the unconfined tests. A discussion on obtained results is presented.

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