Infinitesimal strain

theory

In cont inuum mechanics, t he infinitesimal strain theory is a mat hemat ical approach t o t he
descript ion of t he deformat ion of a solid body in which t he displacement s of t he mat erial
part icles are assumed t o be much smaller (indeed, infinit esimally smaller) t han any relevant
dimension of t he body; so t hat it s geomet ry and t he const it ut ive propert ies of t he mat erial
(such as densit y and st iffness) at each point of space can be assumed t o be unchanged by t he
deformat ion.

Wit h t his assumpt ion, t he equat ions of cont inuum mechanics are considerably simplified. This
approach may also be called small deformation theory, small displacement theory, or small
displacement-gradient theory. It is cont rast ed wit h t he finit e st rain t heory where t he opposit e
assumpt ion is made.

The infinit esimal st rain t heory is commonly adopt ed in civil and mechanical engineering for t he
st ress analysis of st ruct ures built from relat ively st iff elast ic mat erials like concret e and st eel,
since a common goal in t he design of such st ruct ures is t o minimize t heir deformat ion under
t ypical loads. However, t his approximat ion demands caut ion in t he case of t hin flexible bodies,
such as rods, plat es, and shells which are suscept ible t o significant rot at ions, t hus making t he
result s unreliable.[1]

Infinitesimal strain tensor

For infinitesimal deformations of a cont inuum body, in which t he displacement gradient (2nd
order t ensor) is small compared t o unit y, i.e. , it is possible t o perform a geometric
linearization of any one of t he (infinit ely many possible) st rain t ensors used in finit e st rain t heory,
e.g. t he Lagrangian st rain t ensor , and t he Eulerian st rain t ensor . In such a linearizat ion, t he
non-linear or second-order t erms of t he finit e st rain t ensor are neglect ed. Thus we have

or

and

or

This linearizat ion implies t hat t he Lagrangian descript ion and t he Eulerian descript ion are
approximat ely t he same as t here is lit t le difference in t he mat erial and spat ial coordinat es of a
given mat erial point in t he cont inuum. Therefore, t he mat erial displacement gradient component s
and t he spat ial displacement gradient component s are approximat ely equal. Thus we have

or

where are t he component s of t he infinitesimal strain tensor , also called Cauchy's strain
tensor, linear strain tensor, or small strain tensor.
or using different not at ion:

Furt hermore, since t he deformat ion gradient can be expressed as where is t he

second-order ident it y t ensor, we have

Also, from t he general expression for t he Lagrangian and Eulerian finit e st rain t ensors we have

Geometric derivation
Figure 1. Two-dimensional geometric deformation of an infinitesimal material element.

Consider a t wo-dimensional deformat ion of an infinit esimal rect angular mat erial element wit h
dimensions by (Figure 1), which aft er deformat ion, t akes t he form of a rhombus. From t he
geomet ry of Figure 1 we have

For very small displacement gradient s, i.e., , we have

The normal st rain in t he -direct ion of t he rect angular element is defined by

and knowing t hat , we have

Similarly, t he normal st rain in t he -direct ion, and -direct ion, becomes

The engineering shear st rain, or t he change in angle bet ween t wo originally ort hogonal mat erial
lines, in t his case line and , is defined as

From t he geomet ry of Figure 1 we have

For small rot at ions, i.e. and are we have

and, again, for small displacement gradient s, we have

t hus

By int erchanging and and and , it can be shown t hat

Similarly, for t he - and - planes, we have

It can be seen t hat t he t ensorial shear st rain component s of t he infinit esimal st rain t ensor can
t hen be expressed using t he engineering st rain definit ion, , as
Physical interpretation

From finit e st rain t heory we have

For infinit esimal st rains t hen we have

Dividing by we have

For small deformat ions we assume t hat , t hus t he second t erm of t he left hand side

becomes: .

Then we have

where , is t he unit vect or in t he direct ion of , and t he left -hand-side expression is

t he normal st rain in t he direct ion of . For t he part icular case of in t he direct ion, i.e.
, we have

Similarly, for and we can find t he normal st rains and , respect ively.
Therefore, t he diagonal element s of t he infinit esimal st rain t ensor are t he normal st rains in t he
coordinat e direct ions.

Strain transformation rules

If we choose an ort honormal coordinat e syst em ( ) we can writ e t he t ensor in t erms of

component s wit h respect t o t hose base vect ors as
In mat rix form,

We can easily choose t o use anot her ort honormal coordinat e syst em ( ) inst ead. In
t hat case t he component s of t he t ensor are different , say

The component s of t he st rain in t he t wo coordinat e syst ems are relat ed by

where t he Einst ein summat ion convent ion for repeat ed indices has been used and .
In mat rix form

or

Strain invariants

Cert ain operat ions on t he st rain t ensor give t he same result wit hout regard t o which ort honormal
coordinat e syst em is used t o represent t he component s of st rain. The result s of t hese
operat ions are called strain invariants. The most commonly used st rain invariant s are

In t erms of component s
Principal strains

It can be shown t hat it is possible t o find a coordinat e syst em ( ) in which t he

component s of t he st rain t ensor are

The component s of t he st rain t ensor in t he ( ) coordinat e syst em are called t he

principal strains and t he direct ions are called t he direct ions of principal st rain. Since t here
are no shear st rain component s in t his coordinat e syst em, t he principal st rains represent t he
maximum and minimum st ret ches of an element al volume.

If we are given t he component s of t he st rain t ensor in an arbit rary ort honormal coordinat e
syst em, we can find t he principal st rains using an eigenvalue decomposit ion det ermined by
solving t he syst em of equat ions

This syst em of equat ions is equivalent t o finding t he vect or along which t he st rain t ensor
becomes a pure st ret ch wit h no shear component .

Volumetric strain

The dilatation (t he relat ive variat ion of t he volume) is t he first st rain invariant or t race of t he
t ensor:

Act ually, if we consider a cube wit h an edge lengt h a, it is a quasi-cube aft er t he deformat ion
(t he variat ions of t he angles do not change t he volume) wit h t he dimensions
and V0 = a3, t hus

as we consider small deformat ions,

t herefore t he formula.

Real variat ion of volume (t op) and t he approximat ed one (bot t om): t he green drawing shows t he
est imat ed volume and t he orange drawing t he neglect ed volume

In case of pure shear, we can see t hat t here is no change of t he volume.

Strain deviator tensor

The infinit esimal st rain t ensor , similarly t o t he Cauchy st ress t ensor, can be expressed as t he
sum of t wo ot her t ensors:

1. a mean strain tensor or volumetric strain tensor or spherical strain tensor, ,

relat ed t o dilat ion or volume change; and

2. a deviat oric component called t he strain deviator tensor, , relat ed t o dist ort ion.

where is t he mean st rain given by

The deviat oric st rain t ensor can be obt ained by subt ract ing t he mean st rain t ensor from t he
infinit esimal st rain t ensor:

Octahedral strains

Let ( ) be t he direct ions of t he t hree principal st rains. An octahedral plane is one

whose normal makes equal angles wit h t he t hree principal direct ions. The engineering shear st rain
on an oct ahedral plane is called t he octahedral shear strain and is given by

where are t he principal st rains.

The normal st rain on an oct ahedral plane is given by

Equivalent strain

A scalar quant it y called t he equivalent strain, or t he von Mises equivalent st rain, is oft en used
t o describe t he st at e of st rain in solids. Several definit ions of equivalent st rain can be found in
t he lit erat ure. A definit ion t hat is commonly used in t he lit erat ure on plast icit y is

This quant it y is work conjugat e t o t he equivalent st ress defined as

Compatibility equations
For prescribed st rain component s t he st rain t ensor equat ion represent s a
syst em of six different ial equat ions for t he det erminat ion of t hree displacement s component s
, giving an over-det ermined syst em. Thus, a solut ion does not generally exist for an arbit rary
choice of st rain component s. Therefore, some rest rict ions, named compatibility equations, are
imposed upon t he st rain component s. Wit h t he addit ion of t he t hree compat ibilit y equat ions t he
number of independent equat ions are reduced t o t hree, mat ching t he number of unknown
displacement component s. These const raint s on t he st rain t ensor were discovered by Saint -
Venant , and are called t he "Saint Venant compat ibilit y equat ions".

The compat ibilit y funct ions serve t o assure a single-valued cont inuous displacement funct ion
. If t he elast ic medium is visualised as a set of infinit esimal cubes in t he unst rained st at e, aft er
t he medium is st rained, an arbit rary st rain t ensor may not yield a sit uat ion in which t he dist ort ed
cubes st ill fit t oget her wit hout overlapping.

In index not at ion, t he compat ibilit y equat ions are expressed as

Engineering notation

Special cases
Plane strain

Plane strain state in a continuum.

In real engineering component s, st ress (and st rain) are 3-D t ensors but in prismat ic st ruct ures
such as a long met al billet , t he lengt h of t he st ruct ure is much great er t han t he ot her t wo
dimensions. The st rains associat ed wit h lengt h, i.e., t he normal st rain and t he shear st rains
and (if t he lengt h is t he 3-direct ion) are const rained by nearby mat erial and are small
compared t o t he cross-sectional strains. Plane st rain is t hen an accept able approximat ion. The
st rain t ensor for plane st rain is writ t en as:

in which t he double underline indicat es a second order t ensor. This st rain st at e is called plane
strain. The corresponding st ress t ensor is:

in which t he non-zero is needed t o maint ain t he const raint . This st ress t erm can be
t emporarily removed from t he analysis t o leave only t he in-plane t erms, effect ively reducing t he
3-D problem t o a much simpler 2-D problem.
Antiplane strain

Ant iplane st rain is anot her special st at e of st rain t hat can occur in a body, for inst ance in a region
close t o a screw dislocat ion. The st rain t ensor for ant iplane st rain is given by

Infinitesimal rotation tensor

The infinit esimal st rain t ensor is defined as

Therefore t he displacement gradient can be expressed as

where

The quant it y is t he infinitesimal rotation tensor. This t ensor is skew symmet ric. For
infinit esimal deformat ions t he scalar component s of sat isfy t he condit ion . Not e
t hat t he displacement gradient is small only if both t he st rain t ensor and t he rot at ion t ensor are
infinit esimal.

The axial vector

A skew symmet ric second-order t ensor has t hree independent scalar component s. These t hree
component s are used t o define an axial vector, , as follows

where is t he permut at ion symbol. In mat rix form

The axial vect or is also called t he infinitesimal rotation vector. The rot at ion vect or is relat ed
t o t he displacement gradient by t he relat ion

In index not at ion

If and t hen t he mat erial undergoes an approximat e rigid body rot at ion of
magnit ude around t he vect or .

Relation between the strain tensor and the rotation vector

Given a cont inuous, single-valued displacement field and t he corresponding infinit esimal st rain
t ensor , we have (see Tensor derivat ive (cont inuum mechanics))

Since a change in t he order of different iat ion does not change t he result , .
Therefore

Also

Hence

Relation between rotation tensor and rotation vector

From an import ant ident it y regarding t he curl of a t ensor we know t hat for a cont inuous, single-
valued displacement field ,

Since we have

Strain tensor in cylindrical coordinates

In cylindrical polar coordinat es ( ), t he displacement vect or can be writ t en as

The component s of t he st rain t ensor in a cylindrical coordinat e syst em are given by:[2]

Strain tensor in spherical coordinates

In spherical coordinat es ( ), t he displacement vect or can be writ t en as

Spherical coordinates (r, θ, φ) as commonly used in physics: radial distance r, polar angle θ (theta), and azimuthal angle φ
(phi). The symbol ρ (rho) is often used instead of r.
The component s of t he st rain t ensor in a spherical coordinat e syst em are given by [2]

See also

Deformat ion (mechanics)

Compat ibilit y (mechanics)

St ress

St rain gauge

St ress–st rain curve

Hooke's law

Poisson's rat io

Finit e st rain t heory

St rain rat e

Plane st ress
 Digit al image correlat ion

References

1. Boresi, Arthur P. (Arthur Peter), 1924- (2003). Advanced mechanics of materials. Schmidt, Richard J.
(Richard Joseph), 1954- (6th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 62. ISBN 1601199228.
OCLC 430194205 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/430194205) .

2. Slaughter, William S. (2002). The Linearized Theory of Elasticity. New York: Springer Science+Business
Media. doi:10.1007/978-1-4612-0093-2 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-1-4612-0093-2) .
ISBN 9781461266082.

External links

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