Fractional viscoelastic models

Summary

Fractional viscoelastic models are linear viscoelastic constitutive laws in which ordinary time derivatives are replaced by derivatives of non-integer order from fractional calculus. Their basic element, the springpot, interpolates between a spring and a dashpot and has a power-law relaxation modulus. Such models fit the broad, power-law relaxation of polymers and biological tissue with very few parameters, where spring–dashpot models need many terms.