Two instructive instabilites in non-linear elasticity: Biaxially loaded membrane, and rubber balloons (Q676952)

Subjects of this excellently written paper are non-unique solutions in nonlinear elasticity. Their stability is studied by comparing energies. The material under consideration is rubber, the behaviour of which is described by Mooney's strain energy function. Investigated are sheets subject to loads with fixed ratios. There are two solutions for the stretches, an unstable and a stable one. The author also treats the stress-stretch relation with fixed perpendicular load as a parameter. The result is a fold-type catastrophe. Finally, two connected balloons are studied, and the experimental finding that -- depending on the amount of matter inside the balloons -- either the smaller one inflates the larger, or vice versa, is explained by the theory.