Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis

3.1 Deformation of Deformable Body:

• To study the deformation of a body, the positions of material points before
and after deformation are to be compared.
• Two approaches can be used to determine the deformation of continuous
body. In Lagrangian approach, the current coordinates of material point
after deformation are expressed in terms of its initial coordinates; and
where as in Eulerian approach, the current configuration occupied by body
after deformation is described in terms of its current position in space.
• Lagrangian approach is used in this chapter. Let Point P of a body with
coordinates (x, y, z) be displaced to Point ′ with coordinates ( ′, ′, ′)
after deformations as shown below.

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
• The displacement vector has components , and along x, y and z axes
respectively, and one can write the displacement vector as

• The displacement undergone by any point is a function of its initial

coordinates (Lagrangian approach).
• The displacement of a point in volume of body is defined by displacement
vector (both in magnitude and direction) is known once if its coordinates
are known during deformation. Then, a displacement vector field has been
defined throughout the volume of body.
• If is the position vector of Point P, and ’ that of Point ′, then the
displacement field of a point from vector addition is determined by

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
3.2 Deformation in the Neighbourhood of a Point:
• Let P be a point in a body with coordinates (x, y, z) and Q be a point in
neighbourhood of Point P with coordinates ( +d , +d , +d ). When a
body undergoes deformation, Points P and Q move to ′ and Q′. Let the
displacement vector at P have components ( , , ) (see figure below).

• The coordinates of P, ′ and Q are:

: (x, y, z), ′ : ( + , + , + ), : ( +d , +d , +d )
• The displacements at Q are,
+d , +d , +d
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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
• If Q is very close to P, then the first-order approximation of , and

• In matrix form, it can be written as

• Therefore, the coordinates of Q′ are,

• Thus, segment PQ before deformation had components d , d and dz along

3 axes;
and segment ′Q′ after deformation has components d +d , d +d , d +d
along 3 axes.

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
3.3 Change in Length of a Linear Element
(Cauchy Strain-Displacement Relation):
• Deformation of a Point P(x, y, z) in solid body is to be displaced to a new
position ′ with coordinates ( + , + , + ) where , and are
displacement components. A neighbouring Point Q( + , + , + ) is
displaced to Q′ with new coordinates ( + + + , + + + , + + + ).
• To determine change in length of line element PQ caused by deformation,
let s be the length of the line element PQ. Its components are

• Let s′ be the length of ′Q′. Its components are

• Substituting u, v and w given before into components of s′,

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
• The difference between ds’2 and ds2 substituting dx’, dy’, dz’

--(1)
• where the strain components in the above equation are

--(2)

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
• It is observed that,

• Introducing EPQ , the ratio of increase in distance between Points P and Q

caused by deformation to their initial distance called relative extension at
Point P in the direction of Point Q as

• Now, writing the difference between ds’2 and ds2 in terms of EPQ as

• From Eq.(1), substituting this equation for (ds’2 – ds2)

• If , and are the directional cosines of PQ, then

• Substituting these in the above expression

This equation gives the value of the relative extension at Point P in the
direction PQ with directional cosines , and . 7
 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
• Eq.(2) contains linear quantities like ∂u/∂x, ∂v/∂y, ∂w/∂y, ..., etc., as well
as non-linear terms, like (∂u/∂x)2, (∂u/∂x.∂u/∂y), …, etc. If the deformation
imposed on body is small, quantities like ∂u/∂x, ∂v/∂y, etc. are extremely
small so that their squares and products can be neglected.
• Retaining only linear terms in Eq.(2), the following equations are obtained
--(3)
--(4)
--(5)
• Eq.(5) gives linear strain at Point P in the direction of PQ with directional
cosines , , . The relations expressed by Eq.(3) and Eq.(4) are known as
Cauchy strain-displacement relations.
• The linear strains of line element given in Eq.(3) are represented in terms
of displacement components parallel to the respective axes; and the shear
strains in , and planes given in Eq.(4) are represented in terms of
displacement components parallel to the axes of the respective planes.

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
3.4 The State of Strain at a Point:
• xx, and zz are linear strains at a point in x-, y- and z-directions. xy, yz
yy
and xz represent the engineering shear strains in , and planes
respectively. Analogous to stress components, these six strain components
are required to represent state of strain at a point.
• Knowing six strain components at a point P, one can calculate linear strain
in any direction PQ using Eq.(5). One can write the state of strain at a point
using six components of the strain tensor as

• To maintain consistency with stress tensor, we could write shear strains as

• If shear strain is represented by tensorial shear strain, xy⁄2 is written as xy

• Similarly,

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
• If we follow the tensorial strain tensor notation and use linear strains as

then Eq.(5) can be written in a very short form as

and, the state of strain at a point can be represented by

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
3.5 Graphical Interpretation of Shear Strain Components:
• To interpret graphical representation of shear strain in plane xy, consider
two line elements PQ and PR with lengths of dx and d perpendicular to
each other and parallel to x- and y-axes as shown below.

• Point P(x, y) moves to P’, Point Q to Q’ and Point R to R’ after deformation.

Displacements of Point P be , so that coordinates of P’ are ( + , + ).
Since Point Q is d distance away from P, displacement of Q( + , ) are

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
• Similarly, displacement of Point ( , + ) are

• It is seen from the above figure that if 1 and 2 are small, then

• so that total change in the original right angle is

This is the shear strain in xy plane at Point P, xy. Similarly, the shear strains
yz and zx can be interpreted in the same way.
• If element PQR undergoes a pure rigid body rotation through a small
angular displacement shown below, we noticed the following relation taking
counter-clockwise rotation as positive.

Note that no strain occurs during this rigid body displacement.

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d

• Defining rotation about z-axis by

• This represents the average of the sum of rotations of x and y elements and
is called the rotational component.
• Similarly, for rotations about x- and y-axes, we get

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
3.6 Cubical Dilatation (Volumetric Strain):
• Consider a Point A with coordinates (x, y, z) and a neighbouring Point B with
coordinates ( +d , +d , +d ). Points A and B move to A’ and B’ after
deformation with coordinates

where u, v, w are components of displacements of Point A, and du, dv, dw

are displacement components of segment AB obtained before as

• The displaced segment A′B′ will have the following components along x-, y-
and z-axes as

--(6)

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
• Now consider an infinitesimal rectangular parallelepiped with sides d , d
and d shown below. When the body undergoes deformation, the right
parallelepiped PQRS becomes an oblique parallelepiped P’Q’R’S’.

• Identifying of figure shown above with AB of Eq.(6), one has d =d =0.

Then, from Eq.(6) the projections of P′Q′ will be

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
• Hence, one can successively identify AB with PQ (d =d =0), PR (d =d =0),
PS (d =d =0) and get the components of P′Q′, P′R′ and P′S′ along the x-, y-
and z-axes as

• Volume of right parallelepiped before deformation is equal to =d .d .d .

Volume of deformed parallelepiped is obtained from formula of analytic
geometry as

where is determinant of matrix in terms of displacement gradients as

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
• If we assume that strains are small quantities such that their squares and
products can be neglected, the above determinant becomes

• Hence, the new volume according to linear strain theory will be

• and, volumetric strain is defined as

Therefore, according to linear theory, volumetric strain, also known as

cubical dilatation, is equal to the sum of three linear strains.

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
3.7 Principal Axes of Strain and Principal Strains:
• One can derive the following set of equations to determine the direction
along which the relative extension is extremum (derivation is on handout).

--(7)

• If notation of tensorial strain tensor adopted, shear strains represented as

then, Eq.(7) can be written as

• For non-trivial solution, the determinant of coefficients of these equations

must be equal to zero, i.e.

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
• Expanding the determinant, can get cubic equation in terms strain invariant

• The above equations are similar to the equations given in stress analysis.
Therefore, the problem posed and its analysis are similar to the analysis of
principal stress axes and principal stresses.
• In any state of strain, there exist at least 3 mutually perpendicular principal
axes and at most 3 distinct principal strains. The principal strains 1, 2 and 3
are the roots of cubic equation.
• Principal directions associated with 1, 2 and 3 are obtained by substituting
i (i =1, 2, 3) one by one in the following equations and solving for l, m and n.

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
3.8 Maximum Shearing Strains and the Corresponding Planes:
• The maximum shearing strains and the associated normal strains are

and, planes of maximum shearing strains are 45° rotated from principal
normal planes.

3.9 Octahedral Normal and Shear Stresses:

• The octahedral normal strains on inclined plane with directional cosines
= = =±1⁄√3 from the direc ons of principal normal planes is given by

and, the octahedral shearing strain on the same plane is given by

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
3.10 Deviatoric and Volumetric Strain Tensor:
• Strain tensor [] can be decomposed into the deviatoric strain tensor [D]
and volumetric strain tensor [m] as follow:
 [] = [D] + [m]

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
3.11 Plane Strains in Polar Coordinates ( , ):
• Consider displacements and deformations of a 2D radial element in
polar coordinates shown below. Polar coordinates of Point- are and .
Radial and circumferential displacements are denoted by rr and 𝜃.

• Point- with coordinates ( , ) displaced to position ′ after deformation

with coordinates ( + rr , + ). Neighbouring Point- ( + , ) moved to ′
with coordinates

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
• Therefore, the length of ′ ′ and radial strain rr are

• Circumferential strain  is caused in 2 ways. If element undergoes a radial

displacement, length = . changes to ( + 𝑟𝑟).d . Thus, circumferential
strain due to this radial movement alone is

• In addition, Point- moves circumferentially to Point- ’ through distance

Since Point- moves circumferentially through 𝜃𝜃, change in is

thus, circumferential strain due to circumferential movement alone is

• The total circumferential strain is therefore the sum of the two parts as

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
• Expression of shear strain are derived as follow:
1) Circumferential displacement of Point- and Point- are
𝜃 &
The magnitude of 2 is


2) Radial displacement of Point- and Point- are
rr &
The magnitude of 1 is


• Hence, the shear strain r is

• Therefore, plane strain components in polar coordinates ( , ) are

• We can obtain strain components in cylindrical coordinates ( , , ) as

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
3.12 Compatibility Conditions:
• Determination of 6 ij’s from 3 u’s-fns is straightforward since it involves
only differentiation. However, determination of 3 u’s-fns from 6 ij’s is more
complicated since it involves integrating 6 eqns. to obtain 3 u’s-fns. Thus,
there must exist certain relations among them. The total numbers of these
relations are six, and they fall into two groups.
• First group: We have

-Differentiate the first two of the above equations as follows

-Adding these two, we get one of the condition as

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
• Similarly by considering 𝑦𝑦, zz and yz, and zz, xx and zx, we can get two
more conditions. This leads us to the first group of compatibility conditions.

• Second group: This group establishes the conditions among shear strains.
We have

-Differentiating

-Adding the last two equations and subtracting the first we get

-Differentiating the above equation once more with respect to z and

observing that we get,

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
• This is one of the required relations of the second group. By a cyclic change
of the letters we get the other two equations. Collecting all equations, the
six strain compatibility relations are

• The above 6 equations are called Saint-Venant’s equations of compatibility.

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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
3.13 Plane State of Strain:
• It is state of stress where strains in the direction of one of axes are zero, say
strains in the direction of z-axis are zero. i.e. zz = 0, yz = 0, zx = 0
-This state of strain is said to have a ‘plane state of strain’ parallel to x-y
plane. The non-vanishing strain components are xx , yy and xy .
• If PQ is a line element in x-y plane with directional cosines ñ = ( , , )=
(cos , sin , 0), strain PQ in the direction of PQ is obtained by

• Principal stains for plane state of strain are given by

• Plane of principal strain make angles p and p +90° with x-axis, such that

• The maximum shear strain is given by

or
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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
3.14 Strain-Gauge Rosette for 2D Stains (Experimental Method):
• Strain Rosettes have 3 strain gauges which measures ‘strain at a point’ for
single application of stress. Consider 3 strain gauges separated by angles 
and  as shown below. Axis-1 and axis-2 are principal strain axes, and  is
reference angle which defines location of gauge ‘ ’ with respect to axis-1.

• Strain at any angle  is given by

-when referred to principal axes this strain becomes (where xy=0)

where =( 1+ 2)⁄2 and =( 1− 2)⁄2, and the unknowns to be found from

strain measurements are ,  and .
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 Chapter-3: Strain Tensor Analysis --Cont’d
• There are 3 strain measurements equated with the strains at 3 angles as
given below to find principal strains at point.

-Once ,  and  are determined from Eqs.(i), (ii) and (iii), principal strains
at point are found by

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