F.E. stress analysis of rubber bearings under axial loads

In this paper the influence of the shape factor on the stress distributions and stress concentrations of a laminated elastomeric bearing subjected to vertical loads is discussed. The investigation is performed by adopting the finite element approach. The numerical results are compared with an analytical approximate solution. The analyses show a beneficial effect of the shape factor; in particular the edge effects decrease by increasing the shape factor and, moreover, the agreement between the numerical solution and the analytical one improves.