Introduction of Solid Mechanics (ME 621)

Midterm 1 Solution
September 4, 2010
Problem 1
(a) Traction at a point inside a body: Remember that traction is external force acting on a
surface of a body (we will provide precise denition below). Lets consider a deformed body (in
the current conguration). To dene traction at a point P inside the body we need to have surface
passing through the point.
So, let us consider an imaginary plane cutting the body into two pieces and passing through
the point P. Pick one half and consider an innitesimal area A around the point P on the cut
surface. If

f amount of force is acting on that area (arises due to various interaction between the
molecules/atoms composing the body). Then the average traction on the surface A around P is
dened as


f
A
. The traction

t at point P is the limit

t = lim
A0

f
A
,
provided that the limit exists (it typically does).
(b) Stress Components: The denition of traction above tells us that it depends on the
imaginary surface we pick to cut the body through point P (i.e., mathematically, it depends on unit
outward surface normal n at P). If we denote

t
1
as the traction at point P on the plane whose normal
is basis vector e
1
(i.e., the surface is perpendicular to the x
1
axis.) Like any vector, we can write

t
1
as

t
1
= T
11
e
1
+ T
12
e
2
+ T
13
e
3
,
where T
1j
=

t
1
e
j
is the component of

t
1
along the x
j
axis. (See, for example, Fig. 5.3 of Spencer.)
Similarly, the traction

t
1
and

t
3
at P on planes perpendicular to the x
2
and x
3
axes can be written
as

t
2
= T
21
e
1
+ T
22
e
2
+ T
23
e
3

t
3
= T
31
e
1
+ T
32
e
2
+ T
33
e
3
.
The components T
ij
above are called the stress components. They can be written in the matrix
form:
T =
_
_
T
11
T
12
T
13
T
21
T
22
T
23
T
31
T
32
T
33
_
_
.
Traction

t
(n)
at P on an arbitrary surface with normal n = n
1
e
1
+ n
2
e
1
+ n
3
e
3
can be written
as (apply balance of linear momentum for a Cauchy tetrahedron, Fig. 5.4 of Spencer).

t
(n)
= n
1

t
1
+ n
2

t
2
+ n
3

t
3
.
1
Once again

t
(n)
is a vector and we can express it as

t
(n)
= t
(n)
1
e
1
+ t
(n)
2
e
1
+ t
(n)
3
e
3
.
The components of

t
(n)
can be obtained through the following matrix equation
_

_
t
(n)
1
t
(n)
2
t
(n)
3
_

_
=
_
_
T
11
T
21
T
31
T
11
T
22
T
32
T
13
T
23
T
33
_
_
_
_
n
1
n
2
n
3
_
_
,
or,
t
(n)
i
= T
ji
n
j
, or,

t
(n)
= T
T
n. (1)
In the last formula, we are representating matrices, not vectors or tensor. The above equation relates
stress components at a point to the traction on an arbitrary plane at that point.
(c) Existence of a stress tensor: Under the transformation of the coordinate system
e
i

= M
ij
e
j
,
it can be shown that
[

t
(n)
]

= M

t
(n)
= MT
T
n = MT
T
M
T
n

= (T

)
T
n

,
where we have use n = M
T
n

. From the above we nd that the stress components in the new and
old basis are related by
(T

)
T
= MT
T
M
T
T

= MTM
T
.
The last of the above equation is the transformation rule for second rank tensor.
Accordingly, we can say that there exists a tensor T , called the Cauchy stress tensor at P, such
that the traction at a point P on a plane with normal n are related by

t
(n)
= T n.
Problem 2
Given in problem x
1
= X
1
+cX
3
1
+dX
2
and x
2
= X
2
+cX
3
2
+dX
1
where x
i
and X
i
are coordinates
in deformed and reference conguration respectively , c and d are constants.
(a) The components of displacement are
u
1
= x
1
X
1
= cX
3
1
+ dX
2
and
u
2
= x
2
X
2
= cX
3
2
+ dX
1
.
(b) Lagrangian strain tensor is given as
E =
1
2
_

u + (

u)
T
+ (

u)
T

u

.
2
The quantity

u is given by

u =
_
u
1
X
1
u
1
X
2
u
2
X
1
u
2
X
2
_
The matrix of the Langragian strain tensor is given as
E =
1
2
_
6cX
2
1
+ 9c
2
X
4
1
+ d
2
2d + 3cdX
2
1
+ 3cdX
2
2
2d + 3cdX
2
1
+ 3cdX
2
2
6cX
2
2
+ 9c
2
X
4
2
+ d
2
_
Problem 3
Given stress tensor in problem
T =
_
_
1 0 2
0 1 0
2 0 2
_
_
(a) For nding the principal stresses calculate the eigenvalues of the matrix of the stress tensor.
det (T I) = 0
Where I is identity matrix and is eigenvalue (principal stress) of the stress tensor matrix. After
calculation we get.

1
= 3

2
= 1

3
= 2
and

1
<
2
<
3
(b) Now nd the principal directions coressponding to principal values using the following equa-
tion.
_
_
1 0 2
0 1 0
2 0 2
_
_
_
_
_
x
1
x
2
x
3
_
_
_
= 0
(2)
We will calculate the x
1
x
2
and x
3
for value of
1
and
3
calculated above. For
1
= 3 we get the
principal direction as:
v
1
= [1, 0, 2]
T
and for
3
= 2 principal direction ss:
v
3
= [2, 0, 1]
T
Here component of v
1
and v
3
along x
2
direction is zero. Hence they are perpendicular to the x
2
axis.
3
Problem 4
(a) We know that the triple dot product in indicial notation is:
_
a

b
_
c = e
ijk
a
i
b
j
c
k
.
Let
a = A u a
i
= A
ip
u
p

b = A v b
j
= A
iq
v
q
and
c = A w c
k
= A
kr
w
r
.
Now
(A u A v) A w = e
ijk
A
ip
u
p
A
iq
v
q
A
kr
w
r
= (e
ijk
A
ip
A
jq
A
kr
) u
p
v
q
w
r
= e
pqr
(det A) u
p
v
q
w
r
= det A[( u v) w] .
(b) Consider an innitesimal volume of the body in the reference conguration given by
dV =
_
d

X d

Y
_
d

Z ,
where d

X, d

Y and d

Z are the innitesimal line elements of the innitesimal volume. After deforma-
tion, the line elements become
d x = Fd

X
d y = Fd

Y
d z = Fd

Z ,
where F is the deformation gradient. The the volume after deformation, in current conguration, is
dv = (d x d y) d z =
_
Fd

X Fd

Y
_
Fd

Z
Using relation obtained in part (a), with A = F, we obtain
dv = det F[
_
d

X d

Y
_
d

Z] = (det F)dV
Finally,
dv
dV
= det F
4