Analysis of joint peeling in an inflated flat toroidal membrane

• Debonding at the joints of a flat toroidal hyperelastic membrane is analyzed.
• Peeling under constant pressure and constant amount of gas conditions is considered.
• The inner equator is found more likely to debond than the outer equator.
• Geometry of the torus influences the energy release rate and the nature of peeling.
• Stability of the peeling process is checked at different inflation levels.

An inflatable membrane structure with a flat toroidal geometry is formed from a stack of two identical flat annular membranes bonded together at the inner and outer boundaries (equators). The analysis of peeling/debonding at the joints of such a membrane structure subjected to finite inflation under a uniform internal pressure is considered. Homogeneous and isotropic Mooney–Rivlin and Gent solid models are used for the membrane material. Two different peeling conditions are considered, namely constant pressure peeling and constant amount of gas peeling. It is observed that the inner equator of the torus is more likely to debond than the outer equator for both the peeling conditions. The geometry of the torus in terms of the ratio of the undeformed inner and outer equatorial radii is found to influence the energy release rate. The stability of the debonding process is also checked by calculating the rate of change of the energy release rate during peeling.