MULUNGUSHI UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

ASSIGNMENT THREE (3)

NAME: BRIAN MOYO

STUDENT NUMBER: 202200628

PROGRAMME: CIVIL ENGINEERING

COURSE CODE: CIE 302

LECTURER: Mr. Kalolo jr

The strain tensor represents the pure deformation of the element. Let’s investigate

the symmetric part of the derivative tensor of the displacement.

𝑨=

(𝑼 + 𝑼

)=

𝜕𝑢
𝜕𝑥

𝜕𝑢

𝜕𝑦 +

𝜕𝑣

𝜕𝑥)

2
(

𝜕𝑢

𝜕𝑧 +

𝜕𝑤

𝜕𝑥 )

𝜕𝑣

𝜕𝑥 +

𝜕𝑢

𝜕𝑦)

𝜕𝑣
𝜕𝑦

𝜕𝑣

𝜕𝑧 +

𝜕𝑤

𝜕𝑦)

𝜕𝑤

𝜕𝑥 +

𝜕𝑢

𝜕𝑧)

(
𝜕𝑤

𝜕𝑦 +

𝜕𝑣

𝜕𝑧)

𝜕𝑤

𝜕𝑧 ]

𝜀𝑥

𝛾𝑥𝑦

𝛾𝑥𝑧

𝛾𝑦𝑥 𝜀𝑦

2
𝛾𝑦𝑧

𝛾𝑧𝑥

𝛾𝑧𝑦 𝜀𝑧 ]

=𝑨

(2.1)

where 𝜀𝑥, 𝜀𝑦 and 𝜀𝑧 are the normal strains in the 𝑥, 𝑦 and 𝑧 directions, respectively,

and 𝜀 ≪ 1, 𝛾𝑥𝑦 = 𝛾𝑦𝑥, 𝛾𝑦𝑧 = 𝛾𝑧𝑦 and 𝛾𝑧𝑥 = 𝛾𝑥𝑧 are the so called shear angles and

𝛾 ≪ 1 considering small deformations. The normal strain has no unit, while the

shear angle’s unit is radian. If the 𝜀 > 0 the unit length elongates, if the 𝜀 < 0 the

unit length shortens. If the 𝛾 > 0 the original 90° decreases, if the 𝛾 < 0 the

original 90° increases. The deformation of an elementary point is demonstrated in

Figure 2.4. We can also introduce the strain vectors 𝜶𝑥, 𝜶𝑦 and 𝜶𝑧

for the strain

description,

𝑨=

[
𝜀𝑥

𝛾𝑥𝑦

𝛾𝑥𝑧

𝛾𝑦𝑥 𝜀𝑦

𝛾𝑦𝑧

𝛾𝑧𝑥

𝛾𝑧𝑦 𝜀𝑧 ]

= [𝜶𝑥 𝜶𝑦 𝜶𝑧], (2.2)

so

20

𝜶𝑥 = 𝜀𝑥𝒊 +

𝛾𝑦𝑥𝒋 +
1

𝛾𝑧𝑥𝒌,

𝜶𝑦 =

𝛾𝑥𝑦𝒊 + 𝜀𝑦𝒋 +

𝛾𝑧𝑦𝒌,

𝜶𝑧 =

𝛾𝑥𝑧𝒊 +

𝛾𝑦𝑧𝒋 + 𝜀𝑧𝒌.

(2.3)

The strain tensor can be written in dyadic form using strain vectors

𝑨 = 𝜶𝑥 ∘ 𝒊 + 𝜶𝑦 ∘ 𝒋 + 𝜶𝑧 ∘ 𝒌. (2.4)

Figure 2.1. Deformation of an elementary point

In Figure 2.1 for the geometrical illustration of the strain state of a body point 𝑃

we have to order a so called small cube denoted by the 𝒊, 𝒋 and 𝒌 unit vectors in the

very small domain of 𝑃 with end points 𝐴, 𝐵 and 𝐶