The Effect of Compressibility on the Stress Distributions in Thin Elastomeric Blocks and Annular Bushings

The effect of the bulk compressibility of elastomers on the response of rubber blocks and bushings bonded to platens is in vestigated. Closed-form solutions for the stresses and deformations within the elastomer are presented for the case of rigid adherends. It is shown that even with relatively small shape factors, the compressibility can significantly affect the apparent stiffness. A finite element analysis shows that the closed-form solution accurately predicts the stress distribution for rigid adherends, but also reveals that platen deformations in realistic systems may significantly alter the distributions.