On thermodynamically consistent constitutive equations for fiber-reinforced nonlinearly viscoelastic solids with application to biomechanics

In this paper, we are interested in developing thermodynamically consistent constitutive equations for fiber-reinforced nonlinearly viscoelastic bodies, in particular for transversely isotropic nonlinearly viscoelastic solids, in isothermal processes. It follows from results in the theory of algebraic invariants that constitutive equations for such materials can be expressed in terms of functions of 18 independent invariants associated with deformation and fiber orientation: 10 of them are isotropic invariants and 8 of them are associated with the deformation and the orientation of the fiber. Among the 8 anisotropic invariants just 6 are related to the viscoelastic response. The terms in the Cauchy stress tensor associated to these 6 invariants are analyzed with respect to thermodynamical consistency, and we obtain restrictions for the corresponding constitutive coefficients. This framework is applied to viscoelastic potentials within the context of biomaterials.