Two boundary value problems involving an inhomogeneous viscoelastic solid

Recently, a thermodynamically consistent non-linear constitutive equation has been developed to describe the large deformation cyclic response of viscoelastic polyamides (see [17]). In this paper, two boundary value problems within the context of the above model, namely the stress relaxation of a right circular annular cylinder subject to twisting, and the ination of a sphere are studied. In addition to solving the above problems numerically, investiga- tion of the merits and pitfalls of studying the same boundary value problem for a special class of inhomogeneous body and its homogenized counterpart is undertaken. This study finds that for moderate strains the differences in relaxation time between the actual inhomogeneous body and its homogenized counterparts may be significant.