A parameter identification procedure for viscoelastic materials

A parameter identification procedure is presented for visco-elastic materials. The idea of this method is based on the boundary control concept by using the dual properties of traction and displacement, for example, if we give the traction force on a traction boundary and we observe displacement on a part of the same boundary (the observational or control boundary condition), then we may determine the material properties corresponding to the given and observed data. The numerical procedure is then developed on the basis of Newton’s iteration scheme. The method has been shown to be effective for a linear elastic material Ichikawa and Ohkami, Soils and Foundations, 1992, 32(2), 35–44 and for damage mechanics problems Tsuchiyama et al., Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, Japan Society of Civil Engineers, 1993, 475/III -24, 49–58 (in Japanese). In this paper we give an extension to the visco-elastic problem.