Determination of dissipated energy fields from temperature mappings on a rubber-like structural sample: Experiments and comparison to numerical simulations

The main goal of this paper is to provide an experimental way to deduce the field of dissipated energy from the measurement of the temperature field. The case studied is a structural sample (i.e. with a circular notch) in order to test the ability of the protocol to describe heterogeneous energy fields. The material chosen is a filled synthetic elastomer in order to investigate the case of large displacements. Moreover, very thin samples are used to reduce the solving of the thermo-mechanical problem to a 2D investigation. To reach high enough spatial and thermal resolutions the protocol suggested takes advantage of the low thermal conductivity of the material and of a very precise calibration of the infrared camera used to record the temperature fields. The paper suggests a protocol based on an adiabatic assumption and investigates its capabilities and range of validity. A very accurate description of the severe gradients of the fields of dissipated energy can be obtained. In order to evaluate the reliability of the experimental fields, a numerical approach is applied using a simple yet robust dissipation modelling. Finally, the experimental fields of displacement and of dissipated energy are compared with the ones obtained from the numerical simulation.