Elastic Interaction of Pressurized Cavities in Hyperelastic Media: Attraction and Repulsion

TL;DR

This study computationally explores how pressurized cavities in hyperelastic materials can attract or repel each other, revealing nonlinear effects absent in linear elasticity and offering control over cavity interactions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that nonlinear hyperelastic models exhibit both attraction and repulsion between cavities, governed by a critical pressure-shear modulus ratio, unlike linear models.

Findings

Interaction type depends on pressure-shear modulus ratio.

Both attraction and repulsion are observed in nonlinear models.

Strain stiffening influences cavity interactions.

Abstract

This study computationally investigates the elastic interaction of two pressurized cylindrical cavities in a 2D hyperelastic medium. Unlike linear elasticity, where interactions are exclusively attractive, nonlinear material models (neo-Hookean, Mooney-Rivlin, Arruda-Boyce) exhibit both attraction and repulsion between the cavities. A critical pressure-shear modulus ratio governs the transition, offering a pathway to manipulate cavity configurations through material and loading parameters. At low ratios, the interactions are always attractive; at higher ratios, both attractive and repulsive regimes exist depending on the separation between the cavities. Effect of strain stiffening on these interactions are also analyzed. These insights bridge theoretical and applied mechanics, with implications for soft material design and subsurface engineering.