Characterization of resilient mounts for marine diesel engines: Prediction of static response via nonlinear analysis and response surface methodology

The paper describes an experimental procedure to find the optimal values of the coefficients of the Yeoh hyperelastic material model for a resilient mounting element for marine diesel engines. The quasi-static implicit finite element simulation of the resilient mount deformation under an increasing load is matched with the force-displacement curve of the element acquired via laboratory tests. A response surface analysis is then performed to create a predictive model. This allows to find the best values of the Yeoh coefficients and assess their importance in the predictive equation. With a limited number of runs it is possible to obtain a finite element model that simulates accurately the static deformation of the resilient mounting element over the entire loading range.