Balloon Inflation Using Non-Linear Mass-Spring Model
Details
This paper describes a method to simulate approximately inflating balloon using nonlinear mass-spring model. Balloon modeling is the assembling and shaping of many long and narrow balloons (pencil balloons) into many kinds of shapes such as animals and vehicles. We represent the elasticity of the rubber membrane using nonlinear mass-spring model for the tension, and using linear spring model for the bending moment. The air in the balloon is modeled using the particle method. By calculating distances, we avoid interference of air particles, mutual interference between air particles and the rubber membrane, and self-interference between the parts of rubber membrane. In order to model the change of the elastic modulus, we measure the force applied to the balloon when it is expanded. Then we estimate the hysteresis property of elastic modulus of the balloon based on analysis. We confirmed the validity of this model by simulating the behavior of inflating process.
