Dynamic performance of a multi-ribbed belt based on an overlay constitutive model of carbon-black-filled rubber and experimental validation

The focus of this work is the accurate prediction of dynamic mechanical performances of a multi-ribbed belt span. An overlay constitutive model, which consists of hyperelastic, viscoelastic and elastoplastic parts coupled in parallel, is established to describe mechanical properties of carbon-black-filled rubber material used in the belt. A uniaxial tensile test and a uniaxial compressional test are conducted to obtain the hyperelastic material parameters of the constitutive model, and a simple dynamic shear test is used to identify the viscoplastic material parameters via a standard genetic algorithm. Finite element (FE) simulations with the constitutive model are performed to simulate static and hysteretic dynamic characteristics of rubber specimens in these tests. By comparing the simulation results with experiments, the accuracy of the constitutive model and its material parameters is validated. A three-dimensional FE model based on the constitutive model is established to predict both longitudinal and transverse dynamic performances of the multi-ribbed belt span and its good agreements with experimental results are achieved.