STRESS TENSOR

x3
! 33
!

32

! 23

31

! 13

! 12

21

! 22

! 11

x2

x1

" !11 ! 12
$
Stress tensor (see figure above): ! = $ ! 21 ! 22
$# !
! 32
31

! 13 %
'
! 23 '
! 33 '&

The diagonal components represent tension (compression) and off-diagonal

components are shear stresses.
!
!
Force per unit area, T , acting on a plane with the normal defined by the unit vector !

(see picture below) is then

!

Ti = # " ik ! k
k =1

x3

x2

x1

into coordinate axes x !1 , x!2 , x!3

When rotating coordinate axes x 1 , x2 , x3

the

transformation is generally described by the rotation matrix

! a11
#
R = # a21
#" a
31

a12
a22
a32

a12 $ ! cos(1' ,1) cos(1' ,2) cos(1' ,3) $

&
a23 & = # cos( 2' ,1) cos( 2' , 2) cos( 2' ,3)&
#
&
#
&
a33 % " cos(3',1) cos(3' , 2) cos(3' , 3) &%

and the stress tensor transforms to the new (primed) axes according to the relation

" !ij =

#a

ik

aj! " k!

k,!=1

Trace of the tensor

"!

kk

does not change during the rotation of the coordinates, i. e.

k =1

it is invariant with respect to the transformation. The reason is that

3

# "!ii =
i= 1

since

!a

aik ai! " k! =

i,k,!=1

a = "k!

ik i!

i=1

k,!=1

k =1

# $k! "k! = # " kk

Hydrostatic pressure

Hydrostatic

" p 0
= $ 0 p
$
$# 0
0

0%
0'
'
p'&

Since the trace is invariant to the rotation of coordinates and Trace !

Hydrostatic

) = "3p

the hydrostatic pressure is the same in any direction. For a general stress tensor the
hydrostatic pressure induced by this stress tensor is

1 3
p = ! # " kk
3 k =1
Of course, there are also other stress components that are not hydrostatic but again
the hydrostatic part, since it is the Trace of the stress tensor, is the same in any
coordinate system.

STRAIN TENSOR
" !11 !12
$
! = $ ! 21 ! 22
$# !
!32
31

!13 %
'
! 23 '
! 33 '&

If the strain is small the diagonal components represent relative extension

(contraction) in the direction of coordinate axes and off-diagonal components are
shear strains that represent half of the change of the angle between the corresponding
!
axes. In this case the strain tensor ! relates to the displacement vector u associated
with this strain at a given point defined by coordinates x1,x 2 ,x 3 , such that

1 # "u i "u j &

! ij = % j + i (
2 $ "x
"x '
3

4
The strain tensor is obviously symmetric: ! ij = ! ji . If the strain is constant, i. e. it
does not vary with the position in the deformed body, then the displacement vector,
found by integrating this equation, is
3

u = " ! ij x
i

j=1

For such constant strain a vector rKL , representing relative position of two points K
and L, changes with the strain application such that
i
KL

+ # " ijrKL

i
KL

!r

j=1

!
since the vector of the relative displacement of the points K and L, u KL , has
components u

i
KL

j
= " ! ijrKL as follows from the above general equation for the
j=1

displacement.
1
1
1
1
For example, if only !11 " 0 then rKL ! rKL + "11 rKL = (1 + "11 )rKL . This corresponds
to the extension in the direction 1 and the relative extension is !11 . All the other
2

components, rKL and rKL , remain unchanged. On the other hand if only !12 " 0 then
1
1
2
rKL
! rKL
+ "12 rKL
2

rKL ! rKL + "12 rKL

3
3
rKL
! rKL

!
and the straining leads to both change of the length and direction of the vector rij .
Finally, again the trace of the strain tensor

()

Trace ! = " !ii

i=1

is invariant with respect to the rotation of axes, as is any tensor. Physically the

()

Trace ! represents the relative dilation

!V
where !V is the change in volume and
V0

V0 the original volume.

4

Within the linear elasticity the stress and strain are related by the Hooks law, which
is in its most general form:

! ij =

#C

"

ijk! k!

k, !=1

where C ijk! are elastic constants (moduli). For the most general anisotropy there are
21 independent elastic constants.
In the case of cubic symmetry there are only three independent elastic constants C1111 ,

C1122 and C1212 . They are usually marked as c11 = C1111 ,

c12 = C1122 ,

c44 = C1212 .

The Hooks law is in this case

! 11 = c11 "11 + c12 " 22 + c12 "33

!12 = 2c44 "12

! 22 = c12 "12 + c11" 22 + c12 "33

!13 = 2c 44 "13

! 33 = c12 "11 + c12 " 22 + c11" 33

! 23 = 2c 44 " 23

In the isotropic case c 44 =

1
2

(c

11

! c12 , which means the two shear, moduli are equal.

STRAIN ENERGY
If the strain ! ij is induced by the stress ! ij (or vice versa) then the strain energy per
unit volume associated with this straining (stressing) is

1 3
1 3
E = # ! ij " ij = # C ijk! "ij " k!
2 i,j=1
2 i, j,k,!=1
This is additional potential energy stored in the body due to the straining.
The equation of equilibrium stating that the total force is zero at every point of the
body is
5

!" ij
+ Fi = 0 (i = 1, 2, 3)
#
j=1 !x j
3

where Fi is the body force, for example weight. The relation assuring that there is
no moment of forces is the symmetry of the stress tensor: ! ij = ! ji .