Burgers material 2026-10-20
A four-element linear viscoelasticity model with a spring , a Kelvin-Voigt model branch , and a free dashpot in series. Adding their strains under common stress gives the displayed creep compliance, with . There is an instantaneous elastic response, a delayed recoverable response and steady viscous flow.[ref] Named after Johannes Martinus Burgers, it extends a Maxwell model with a delayed elastic branch, or a standard linear solid model with a free dashpot.
For a load maintained for time , the two recoverable contributions behave as in recovery after a finite-duration stress load, while the free dashpot retains . Hence
This residual response models viscous flow; it does not by itself establish a plastic yield threshold or a damage mechanism in a real specimen.
Figure 1.
Immediate recovery, delayed recovery and residual viscous strain
. Original predictions for a standard linear solid and a Burgers material under the same finite-duration load. Dimensionless illustrative parameters; no experimental rubber or wood data are fitted. Details.