A Viscoelastic Fiber Bundle Model: Establishment and Applications

In this paper, a viscoelastic fiber bundle model is established theoretically. The effect of actual viscoelastic behavior of material on the fiber bundle has been considered in the analysis. Key parameters, which contain relaxation time, strain rate and Weibull distribution parameters, are analyzed quantitatively by using this theoretically model. Results show that viscosity parameter and strain rate have significant influence on mechanical behavior of materials within a specific range. Moreover, the failure strain is the inherent material property of viscoelastic fiber bundle and can be used as a constant in actual engineering. For polythene fiber bundle, the failure strain can be regarded as 25.45%. The characteristic strength in Weibull distribution has a certain influence on the failure behavior of fiber bundle. Weibull modulus, another Weibull parameter, has a relatively minor influence on the failure behavior. Compared with classical fiber bundle model, the theoretical model proposed in this paper has expanded the application range to time-dependent materials. Results and conclusions in this paper have guiding significance for predicting deformation and failure of viscoelastic fiber bundle materials in industrial applications. Moreover, the proposed viscoelastic fiber bundle model can also provide references for research in other fields, such as biomaterials, landslides and earthquake rupture.