Random response of dielectric elastomer balloon to electrical or mechanical perturbation

Abstract

Random response of dielectric elastomer balloon disturbed by electrical or mechanical fluctuation is analytically investigated in this article. The stochastic differential equation governing the oscillating behavior around the stable equilibrium position is first derived by introducing the translation transformation. The stationary joint probability density about the disturbing stretch ratio and its rate of change is analytically established by adopting the stochastic averaging of energy envelope; the statistics quantities, such as the mean value and the standard deviation of the disturbing stretch ratio, are then subsequently calculated. Two special cases, the first case with only voltage fluctuation and the second one with only pressure variation, are discussed in detail, and the random response properties are summarized. The accuracy of the analytical solution is verified by comparing with the Monte Carlo simulation for the perturbation with weak intensity, and the valid ranges for the mean voltage and pressure are illustrated. This work provides an effective technique to evaluate the detection precision of new type of sensors based on the dielectric elastomer.