Polyelectrolyte hydrogels are ionic gels with viscoelastic properties. They are able to reversibly swell and deswell in response to different external stimuli. In the present work stacked layers of hydrogels - also referred to as hydrogel layers - under chemical stimulation are numerically investigated. For this, a set of coupled partial differential equations describing the chemical, the electrical and the mechanical field is solved by using the finite element method. The swelling behavior of the hydrogel layers - obtained by a novel approach for the osmotic pressure - is in excellent agreement with other investigations available in the literature.

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Martin Sobczyk and Thomas Wallmersperger, "Modeling and simulation of chemically stimulated hydrogel layers using the multifield theory," Proc. SPIE 9798, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2016, 979810 (Presented at SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring: March 23, 2016; Published: 15 April 2016); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2217890.