Lecture 3

Deformation: Displacements and

strains
Another main players
Print version Lecture on Theory of Elasticity and Plasticity of
Dr. D. Dinev, Department of Structural Mechanics, UACEG
3.1

Contents
1

Displacement eld

Strain eld

Geometric representation of the small deformations

Strain transformation

Principal strains and principal planes

Compatibility equations

3.2

Displacement eld

Displacement eld

General deformations
As a result of applied loads the elastic solid will change shape or deform and these deformations can be quantied by knowing the displacements of the material points of the
body
The body is a continuum solid and this established a displacement eld at all points within
the elastic body
3.3

Displacement eld

Position vector
The material point P in the undeformed conguration is specied by a position vector
x = xi ei
3.4

Displacement eld
Position vector
In deformed conguration the same material point P is specied by another position vector
x = xi ei
3.5

Displacement eld
Displacement vector
The displacement of the particle P is given by
u = x x
3.6

Strain eld

Strain eld

Rigid-body motion
The displacement eld u(x) does not necessarily lead to deformation
3.7

Strain eld
Rigid-body motion
Rigid-body translation- constant vector
u(x) = u0
3.8

Strain eld

Rigid-body motion
Rigid-body rotation
u
dy,
y
v
dv =
dx
x
du =

3.9

Strain eld
Small increment
The small increment of the displacement eld is
ui = u0 +
i

ui
dx j
xj

Note
Small increment Taylor expansion up to 1-st order
3.10

Strain eld
Displacement gradient tensor
The tensor

ui
xj

is called displacement gradient tensor and may be written as

ui

= ui, j =
xj

u
x
v
x
w
x

u
y
v
y
w
y

u
z
v
z
w
z

The displacement gradient tensor in general is a non-symmetric tensor and can be decomposed into symmetric and antisymmetric part. Hence the displacement is
ui =

u0
i
translation vector

1
1
+ (ui, j + u j,i ) dx j + (ui, j u j,i ) dx j
2
2
strain tensor

rotation tensor

= u0 + i j dx j + i j dx j
i
3.11

Strain eld
Strain and rotation tensors
Strain tensor
i j =

1
(ui, j + u j,i )
2

In matrix form
=

1
u + (u)T
2

The above strain tensor is called Cauchy strain tensor

3.12

Strain eld
Strain and rotation tensors
Rotation tensor
i j =

1
(ui, j u j,i )
2

In matrix form
=

1
u (u)T
2
3.13

Strain eld
Strain and rotation tensors
Matrix expression of the strain tensor

xx
= xy
xz

xy
yy
yz

Matrix expression of the rotation tensor

0
= xy
xz

xz
yz
zz

xz
yz
0

xy
0
yz

3.14

Strain eld
Strain tensor components
Normal strains
xx =

u
,
x

yy =

v
,
y

zz =

w
z

Shear strains
1
2
1
xz =
2
1
yz =
2
xy =

u v
+
y x
u w
+
z x
v w
+
z y

Engineering shear strains

xy = 2xy ,

xz = 2xz ,

yz = 2yz
3.15

Strain eld
Example
The displacement eld is given by
u = 2xyze1 + 3x2 e2 + y2 e3
Determine the strain and rotation tensors
Verify the obtained results by using the denitions of the strain components
3.16

Geometric representation of the small deformations

Geometric representation of the small deformations

Rigid-body motion
The deformation behavior of an elastic solid includes rigid-body motion + extensional and
shearing deformations
The rigid-body motion does not contribute to the strain eld
We will focus on the extensional and shearing deformations
3.17

Geometric representation of the small deformations

Small deformations
Small displacements
u
dx
x
v
u(x, y + dy) = v0 (x, y) + dy
y

u(x + dx, y) = u0 (x, y) +

3.18

Geometric representation of the small deformations

Small deformations
The normal strain component is
xx =

A B AB
AB
3.19

Geometric representation of the small deformations

Small deformations
The extended part A B is
AB =

dx +

u
dx
x

v
dx
x

1+

u
dx
x
3.20

Geometric representation of the small deformations

Small deformations
An engineering shear strain is dened as the change in angle between originally orthogonal directions in the elastic solid. The shear strain is positive if the right angle decreases
xy = + =

v
x dx
dx + u dx
x

u
y dy
dy + v dy
y
3.21

Geometric representation of the small deformations

Small deformations
Neglecting the higher-order terms we get
xy =

u v
+
y x
3.22

Strain transformation

Strain transformation
Tensor transformation
Because the strains are components of the second-order tensor we can apply the same
transformation rules as for the stress tensor
= NNT
where the transformation matrix is

nxx
N = nyx
nzx

nxy
nyy
nzy

nxz
nyz
nzz

and ni j = cos(xi , x j )
The prime coordinates belong to the new coordinate system
3.23

Principal strains and principal planes

Principal strains and principal planes

Principal strains
The strain tensor is a symmetric second order tensor and can be determine its principal
values and axes. Derivation similar to the stress tensor lead to
det ( I) = 0
The characteristic equation is
3 J1 2 + J2 J3 = 0
where the roots i are the values of the principal strains

3.24

Principal strains and principal planes

Principal strains
The strain invariants are
J1 =xx + yy + zz
xx
zx

xx
yx

xy
yy

xx
J3 = yx
zx

xy
yy
zy

xz
zz

yy
zy

yz
zz

xz
yz
zz

J2 =

The principal axes can be found by

( I) n = 0
3.25

Compatibility equations

Compatibility equations
Displacements Strains
The task of computing strains from a given displacement eld is a simple exercise- just ll
the strain-displacement relationships
=

1
u + (u)T
2
3.26

Compatibility equations

Strains Displacements
Can we nd the displacements from a given strain eld?
There are 6 independent PDE for only 3 unknown displacements! The solution is overdetermined.
We will nd so called St. Venant compatibility equations that will ensure the computation of an unique displacement eld from a given strain eld

3.27

Compatibility equations

Strains Displacements
Suppose that the body is cut into pieces and then each of the piece is strained
If the strain of each piece is compatible with the strain of the neighboring pieces they can
be tted together (no gaps between them).
3.28

Compatibility equations
Strains Displacements
It is mean the 6 equations that connect the strain components with 3 displacements should
be consistent
Consider a 2D-case with 2 displacements u and v and 3 strain-displacement equations
xx =

u
,
x

yy =

v
,
y

2xy =

u v
+
y x

If the given strains are compatible any two of these equations should yield same displacement components
3.29

Compatibility equations
Strains Displacements
The compatibility equations can be established by differentiating twice with respect of x
and y the above equations and replacing we obtain
2 xy
2 xx 2 yy
+
=2
2
2
y
x
x y
For a 3D-case we have 5 more equations
The 6 compatibility equations are
mn,i j + i j,mn = im, jn + jn,im
or
( )T = 0
3.30

Compatibility equations
Strains Displacements
Saint-Venant compatibility equations
xx,yy + yy,xx = 2xy,xy
yy,zz + zz,yy = 2yz,yz
zz,xx + xx,zz = 2zx,zx
xy,xz + xz,xy = xx,yz + yz,xx
yz,yx + yx,yz = yy,zx + zx,yy
zx,zy + zy,zx = zz,xy + xy,zz
3.31

Compatibility equations

Strains Displacements
Jean Claude Saint-Venant (1797- 1886)
3.32

Compatibility equations
Example
Using the results for the strain tensor obtained into the previous example check the compatibility of the strain components
3.33

Compatibility equations

Example
The state of a plane strain of a square disc (length of ) is given by
xx = a(x2 y2 )
yy = a(xy)
Determine the components of the displacement vector
Find the shear strain xy
Check the strain compatibility
3.34

Compatibility equations

The End
Any questions, opinions, discussions?
3.35