A study of the catastrophe and the cavitation for a spherical cavity in Hooke's material with 1/2 Poisson's ratio (Q1818208)

The authors study the cavitation and catastrophe of a spherical cavity at the center of an elastic sphere. It is assumed that uniform tensile loads act on the inner surface of the cavity and on the outer surface of the sphere, i.e. the problem under consideration is symmetric one. The mathematical model is physically linear and geometrically nonlinear, with Poisson's ratio equal to 0,5. The authors also prescribe conditions on moving boundaries, and assume the load on the inner surface to be equal to zero. To study the catastrophe of the cavity means to determine the relation between the unknown radial displacement of the outer surface of the sphere and the unknown uniform tensile load on the outer surface of the sphere. Similarly, to study the cavitation means to determine the above relation when the radius of the cavity tends to zero. The authors obtain a closed-form solution which shows that at the tangent bifurcation point of the displacement-load curve, the cavity grows up suddenly, which is interpreted as a kind of catastrophe.