Section 1.

1.2 The Strain-Displacement Relations

1.2.1

The Strain-Displacement Relations

Normal Strain Consider a line element of length x emanating from position ( x, y ) and lying in the x direction, denoted by AB in Fig. 1.2.1. After deformation the line element occupies AB , having undergone a translation, extension and rotation.

y u x ( x, y )
B
x + x

u x ( x + x, y )
B A
B*

Figure 1.2.1: deformation of a line element

The particle that was originally at x has undergone a displacement u x ( x, y ) and the other end of the line element has undergone a displacement u x ( x + x, y ) . By the definition of (small) normal strain,

xx =
In the limit x 0 one has

AB * AB u x ( x + x, y ) u x ( x, y ) = AB x

(1.2.1)

xx =

u x x

(1.2.2)

This partial derivative is a displacement gradient, a measure of how rapid the displacement changes through the material, and is the strain at ( x, y ) . Physically, it represents the (approximate) unit change in length of a line element, as indicated in Fig. 1.2.2.

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Section 1.2

B A A B

B*

u x x x

Figure 1.2.2: unit change in length of a line element

Similarly, by considering a line element initially lying in the y direction, the strain in the y direction can be expressed as

yy =
Shear Strain

u y y

(1.2.3)

The particles A and B in Fig. 1.2.1 also undergo displacements in the y direction and this is shown in Fig. 1.2.3. In this case, one has
B * B = u y x x

(1.2.4)

u y ( x + x, y)
u y ( x, y )
B A

B
B*

x + x

Figure 1.2.3: deformation of a line element

A similar relation can be derived by considering a line element initially lying in the y direction. A summary is given in Fig. 1.2.4. Form the figure,

tan =

u y / x

1 + u x / x

u y x

provided that (i) is small and (ii) the displacement gradient u x / x is small. A similar expression for the angle can be derived, and hence the shear strain can be written in terms of displacement gradients.

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Section 1.2

y y
u y y

u x y

y x

u x x x x

u y x

Figure 1.2.4: strains in terms of displacement gradients

The Small-Strain Stress-Strain Relations

In summary, one has

xx = yy = xy

u x x u y

y 1 u x u y = + 2 x y

2-D Strain-Displacement relations

(1.2.5)

1.2.2

Geometrical Interpretation of Small Strain

A geometric interpretation of the strain was given in Part I: 3.6.4. This interpretation is repeated here, only now in terms of displacement gradients.
Positive Normal Strain

Fig. 1.2.5a,

xx =

u y u x 1 u x y > 0, yy = = 0, xy = + =0 2 x y y x

(1.2.6)

Negative Normal Strain

Fig 1.2.5b,

xx =

u y u x 1 u x u y =0 < 0, yy = = 0, xy = + x y 2 x y

(1.2.7)

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Section 1.2

y u ( x) x

u x ( x + x)

ux ( y)

x
(a ) ( b) (c )

Figure 1.2.5: some simple deformations; (a) positive normal strain, (b) negative normal strain, (c) simple shear Simple Shear

Fig. 1.2.5c,

xx =

u y u x 1 u x u y 1 u x = 0, yy = = 0, xy = + = 2 y x y 2 y x

(1.2.8)

Pure Shear

Fig 1.2.6a,

xx =
Pure Rotation

u y u x 1 u x u y u x u y = 0, yy = = 0, xy = + = y = x x y 2 y x

(1.2.9)

Fig 1.2.6b,
x =0 xy = + 2 y x

1 u

u y

(1.2.10)

ux ( y)
u y ( x)

ux ( y)

u y ( x)

(a )

( b)

Figure 1.2.6: (a) pure shear, (c) pure rotation

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Section 1.2

1.2.3

The Rotation

Form Fig. 1.2.6b and Eqn. 1.2.10, a rigid body rotation of an element occurs when
u y u x = y x

(1.2.11)

This leads one to define the rotation of a material particle, z , the z signifying the axis about which the element is rotating:

z = x 2 x y

1 u y

(1.2.12)

The rotation will in general vary throughout a material. When the rotation is everywhere zero, the material is said to be irrotational. Note that any shear strain can be decomposed into a pure shear and a rotation, as illustrated in Fig. 1.2.7.

y
=
u x y

u y x

arbitrary shear strain

x
1 1 u x u y + xy = ( + ) = x 2 2 y

pure shear

rotation (no strain)

xy

xy

u x u y 1 = = ( + ) = xy y x 2

z =

u y u x 1 ( ) = 1 2 2 y x

Figure 1.2.7: decomposition of a shear strain into a pure shear and a rotation

1.2.4

Fixing Displacements

The strains give information about the deformation of material particles but, since they do not encompass translations and rotations, they do not give information about the precise location in space of particles. To determine this, one must specify three displacement components (in two-dimensional problems). Mathematically, this is equivalent to saying
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Section 1.2

that one cannot uniquely determine the displacements from the strain-displacement relations 1.2.5.
Example

Consider the strain field xx = 0.01, yy = xy = 0 . The displacements can be obtained by

u x = xx dx = 0.01x + f ( y ) u y = yy dy = g ( x) where f and g are unknown functions of y and x respectively. Substituting the displacement expressions into the shear strain relation gives

(1.2.13)

f ( y ) = g ( x) .

(1.2.14)

Any expression of the form F ( x) = G ( y ) which holds for all x and y implies that F and G are constant1. Since f , g are constant, one can integrate to get f ( y ) = A + Dy, g ( x) = B + Cx . From 1.2.14, C = D , and u x = 0.01x + A Cy u y = B + Cx (1.2.15)

There are three arbitrary constants of integration, which can be determined by specifying three displacement components. For example, suppose that it is known that
u x (0,0) = 0, u y (0,0) = 0, u x (0, a ) = b .

(1.2.16)

In that case, A = 0, B = 0, C = b / a , and, finally,

(1.2.17)

which corresponds to Fig. 1.2.8, with (b / a ) being the (tan of the small) angle by which the element has rotated.

since, if this was not so, a change in x would change the left hand side of this expression but would not change the right hand side and so the equality cannot hold

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Section 1.2

x
Figure 1.2.8: an element undergoing a normal strain and a rotation

In general, the displacement field will be of the form

(1.2.18)

and indeed Eqn. 1.2.15 is of this form. Physically, A, B and C represent the possible rigid body motions of the material as a whole, since they are the same for all material particles. A corresponds to a translation in the x direction, B corresponds to a translation in the x direction, and C corresponds to a positive (counterclockwise) rotation.

1.2.5

Three Dimensional Strain

The three-dimensional stress-strain relations analogous to Eqns. 1.2.5 are

xx = xy

u y u x u , yy = , zz = z x z y u 1 u x u y 1 u 1 u y u z = + , xz = x + z , yz = + x 2 y 2 z 2 x y z 3-D Stress-Strain relations

(1.2.19)

The rotations are

1 u y

1 u

1 u

u y

(1.2.20)

1.2.6

Problems

1. The displacement field in a material is given by u x = A(3 x y ), u y = Axy 2 where A is a small constant.

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Section 1.2

(a) Evaluate the strains. What is the rotation z ? Sketch the deformation and any rigid body motions of a differential element at the point (1, 1) (b) Sketch the deformation and rigid body motions at the point (0, 2) , by using a pure shear strain superimposed on the rotation. 2. The strains in a material are given by xx = x, yy = 0, xy = Evaluate the displacements in terms of three arbitrary constants of integration, in the form of Eqn. 1.2.15, u x = LL + A Cy u y = LL + B + Cx What is the rotation? 3. The strains in a material are given by xx = Axy, yy = Ay 2 , xy = Ax where A is a small constant. Evaluate the displacements in terms of three arbitrary constants of integration. What is the rotation? 4. Show that, in a state of plane strain ( zz = 0 ) with zero body force,
z 2 u x 2 u x e 2 = + x y x 2 y 2 where e is the volumetric strain or dilatation, the sum of the normal strains: e = xx + yy + zz .

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