Methods and systems for enabling simulation of aging effect of a chrono-rheological material in computer aided engineering analysis

1. A method of enabling simulation of material aging effects in a computer aided engineering (CAE) analysis, the method comprising:

conducting a plurality of identical material property tests for respective specimens of a particular chrono-rheological material, each of the specimens having been aged to a different age and each of the tests being configured to obtain a series of relaxation test data of a corresponding one of the specimens, wherein each of the series of relaxation test data is measured by maintaining the corresponding specimen at a predetermined displacement or strain;

determining a set of first and second time-dependent material aging effect parameters that correlates the series of relaxation test data of a pair of the specimens; and

configuring a CAE analysis application module such that the material aging effects can be represented numerically with a chrono-rheological material constitutive equation having the set of first and second time-dependent material aging effect parameters included therein, the CAE analysis application module is used for performing a CAE analysis of an engineering structure that contains at least in part the chrono-rheological material, wherein the CAE analysis is used for assisting a user to make decision in improving design of the engineering structure.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said each of the material property tests comprises a uni-axial test procedure with the relaxation test data being axial stress of the corresponding specimen.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said each of the material property tests comprises a bi-axial test procedure with the relaxation test data being inflating pressure of the corresponding specimen.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining the set of first and second time-dependent material aging effect parameters further comprising:

plotting the series of relaxation test data of said pair of the specimens as first and second curves on a two-dimensional logarithm-logarithm scaled chart having a vertical axis representing relaxation test data and a horizontal axis representing time of the test; and

shifting the first curve to match the second curve in the chart.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first time-dependent material aging effect parameter is a vertical shift amount of said shifting operation.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the second time-dependent material aging effect parameter is a horizontal shift amount of said shifting operation.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the chrono-rheological material constitutive equation defines a strain-stress relationship of the chrono-rheological material.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said different ages are between one-day and six-month.

9. A system for simulating material aging effects in an engineering structure containing at least in part a chrono-rheological material using a computer aided engineering (CAE) analysis application module running on a computer comprising: a computer configured to perform a CAE analysis of the engineering structure by receiving a set of first and second time-dependent material aging effect parameters from a user input as a result of conducting a plurality of identical material property tests for respective specimens of a chrono-rheological material, each of the specimens having been aged to a different age and each of the tests being configured to obtain a series of relaxation test data of a corresponding one of the specimens, wherein each of the series of relaxation test data is measured by maintaining the corresponding specimen at a predetermined displacement or strain, the set of first and second time-dependent material aging effect parameters is determined by correlating the series of relaxation test data of a pair of the specimens, wherein the set of first and second time-dependent material aging effect parameters is associated with a chrono-rheological material constitutive equation configured in the CAE analysis application module; and performing the CAE analysis of the engineering structure including the material aging effect in accordance with the chrono-rheological material constitutive equation.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein said correlating the series of relaxation test data of said pair of the specimens further comprising:

plotting the series of relaxation test data of said pair of the specimens as first and second curves on a two-dimensional logarithm-logarithm scaled chart having a vertical axis representing relaxation test data and a horizontal axis representing time of the test; and

shifting the first curve to match the second curve in the chart.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the first time-dependent material aging effect parameter is a vertical shift amount of said shifting operation.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the second time-dependent material aging effect parameter is a horizontal shift amount of said shifting operation.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein said different ages are between one-day and six-month.

14. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program for simulating material aging effect in an engineering structure containing at least in part a chrono-rheological material, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to perform the steps of: receiving a set of first and second time-dependent material aging effect parameters from a user input as a result of conducting a plurality of identical material property tests for respective specimens of a particular chrono-rheological material, each of the specimens having been aged to a different age and each of the tests being configured to obtain a series of relaxation test data of a corresponding one of the specimens, wherein each of the series of relaxation test data is measured by maintaining the corresponding specimen at a predetermined displacement or strain, determining the set of first and second time-dependent material aging effect parameters that correlates the series of relaxation test data of a pair of the specimens, wherein the set of first and second time-dependent material aging effect parameters is associated with a chrono-rheological material constitutive equation configured in a computer aided engineering (CAE) analysis application module; and performing the CAE analysis of the engineering structure including the material aging effect in accordance with the chrono-rheological material constitutive equation.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein said determining the set of first and second time-dependent material aging effect parameters further comprising:

plotting the series of relaxation test data of said pair of the specimens as first and second curves on a two-dimensional logarithm-logarithm scaled chart having a vertical axis representing relaxation test data and a horizontal axis representing time of the test; and

shifting the first curve to match the second curve in the chart.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the first time-dependent material aging effect parameter is a vertical shift amount of said shifting operation.

17. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the second time-dependent material aging effect parameter is a horizontal shift amount of said shifting operation to match said each pair.

18. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein said different ages are between one-day and six-month.