Torsion stiffness of a rubber bushing: A simple engineering design formula including the amplitude dependence

Abstract

An engineering design formula for the torsion stiffness of a filled rubber bushing in the frequency domain, including the amplitude dependence, is presented. It is developed by applying a novel separable elastic, viscoelastic, and friction material model to an equivalent strain of the strain state inside the bushing, thus leading to an equivalent shear modulus that is inserted into an analytical formula for the torsion stiffness. The rubber model is the result of extending the force-displacement relation established in a sound rubber component model to the stress-strain level. Unlike other simplified methods, this procedure takes into account the variation in the properties inside the bushing owing to non-homogeneous strain states. Moreover, as this formula depends on the bushing geometry in addition to the material properties, it is a fast engineering tool to design the most suitable rubber bushing to fulfil user requirements. Furthermore, it is shown - by dividing the considered bushing into several slices, consequently each equivalent shear modulus is closer to the true value - that the approach of working with only one equivalent shear modulus for the whole bushing is accurate enough.