In linear elasticity, a fourth order elasticity (stiffness) tensor of 21 independent components completely describes deformation properties of a material. Due to Voigt, this tensor is conventionally represented by a $6\times 6$ symmetric matrix. This classical matrix representation does not conform with the irreducible decomposition of the elasticity tensor. In this paper, we construct two alternative matrix representations. The $3\times 7$ matrix representation is in a correspondence with the permutation transformations of indices and with the general linear transformation of the basis. An additional representation of the elasticity tensor by three $3\times 3$ matrices is suitable for description the irreducible decomposition under the rotation transformations. We present the elasticity tensor of all crystal systems in these compact matrix forms and construct the hierarchy diagrams based on this representation.
In isotropic strain gradient elasticity, we decompose the strain gradient tensor into its irreducible pieces under the n-dimensional orthogonal group O(n). Using the Young tableau method for traceless tensors, four irreducible pieces (n>2), which are canonical, are obtained. In three dimensions, the strain gradient tensor can be decomposed into four irreducible pieces with 7+5+3+3 independent components whereas in two dimensions, the strain gradient tensor can be decomposed into three irreducible pieces with 2+2+2 independent components. The knowledge of these irreducible pieces is extremely u…
Within the context of linear elasticity we show that a two-terminal network of springs and masses, can respond exactly the same as a normal spring, but with a frequency dependent spring constant. As a consequence a network of such springs can have a frequency dependent effective elasticity tensor but zero effective mass density. The internal masses influence the elasticity tensor, but do not contribute to the effective mass density at any frequency.
In this paper, we propose a factorization of a fourth-order harmonic tensor into second-order tensors. We obtain moreover explicit equivariant reconstruction formulas, using second-order covariants, for transverse isotropic and orthotropic harmonic fourth-order tensors, and for trigonal and tetragonal harmonic fourth-order tensors up to a cubic fourth order covariant remainder.
The (static) energy momentum tensor, angular momentum tensor and scaling flux vector of micropolar elasticity are derived within the framework of Noether's theorem on variational principles. Certain balance (or broken conservation) laws of broken translational, rotational and dilatational symmetries are found including inhomogeneities, elastic anisotropy, body forces, body couples and dislocations and disclinations present. The non-conserved J-, L- and M-integrals of micropolar elasticity are derived and discussed. We give explicit formulae for the configurational forces, moments and work term…
We investigate linear theories of incompatible micromorphic elasticity, incompatible microstretch elasticity, incompatible micropolar elasticity and the incompatible dilatation theory of elasticity (elasticity with voids). The incompatibility conditions and Bianchi identities are derived and discussed. The Eshelby stress tensor (static energy momentum) is calculated for such inhomogeneous media with microstructure. Its divergence gives the driving forces for dislocations, disclinations, point defects and inhomogeneities which are called configurational forces.
In linear anisotropic elasticity, the elastic properties of a medium are described by the fourth rank elasticity tensor C. The decomposition of C into a partially symmetric tensor M and a partially antisymmetric tensors N is often used in the literature. An alternative, less well-known decomposition, into the completely symmetric part S of C plus the reminder A, turns out to be irreducible under the 3-dimensional general linear group. We show that the SA-decomposition is unique, irreducible, and preserves the symmetries of the elasticity tensor. The MN-decomposition fails to have these desirab…
We propose an effective geometrical approach to recover the normal form of a given Elasticity tensor, once we know its symmetry class. In other words, we produce a rotation which brings an Elasticity tensor onto its normal form, given its components in any orthonormal frame, and this for any tensor of any symmetry class. Our methodology relies on the use of specific covariants and on the geometric characterization of each symmetry class using these covariants. An algorithm to detect the symmetry class of an Elasticity tensor is finally formulated.
In this work, dislocation master-equations valid for anisotropic materials are derived in terms of kernel functions using the framework of micromechanics. The second derivative of the anisotropic Green tensor is calculated in the sense of generalized functions and decomposed into a sum of a $1/R^3$-term plus a Dirac $δ$-term. The first term is the so-called "Barnett-term" and the latter is important for the definition of the Green tensor as fundamental solution of the Navier equation. In addition, all dislocation master-equations are specified for Somigliana dislocations with application to 3D…
The theory of first strain gradient elasticity (SGE) is widely used to model size and non-local effects observed in materials and structures. For a material whose microstructure is centrosymmetric, SGE is characterized by a sixth-order elastic tensor in addition to the classical fourth-order elastic tensor. Even though the matrix form of the sixth-order elastic tensor is well-known in the isotropic case, its complete matrix representations seem to remain unavailable in the anisotropic cases. In the present paper, the explicit matrix representations of the sixth-order elastic tensor are derived…
Functional bases, synonymous with separating sets, are usually formulated for an entire vector space, such as the space Ela of elasticity tensors. We propose here to define functional bases limited to symmetry strata, i.e. sets of tensors of the same symmetry class. We provide such lowcardinal minimal bases for tetragonal, trigonal, cubic or transversely isotropic symmetry strata of the elasticity tensor.
In this paper, the problem of the identification of the symmetry class of a given tensor is asked. Contrary to classical approaches which are based on the spectral properties of the linear operator describing the elasticity, our setting is based on the invariants of the irreducible tensors appearing in the harmonic decomposition of the elasticity tensor [Forte-Vianello, 1996]. To that aim we first introduce a geometrical description of the space of elasticity tensors. This framework is used to derive invariant-based conditions that characterize symmetry classes. For low order symmetry classes,…
In the literature, there is an ambiguity in defining the relationship between trigonal and cubic symmetry classes of an elasticity tensor. We discuss the issue by examining the eigensystems and symmetry groups of trigonal and cubic tensors. Additionally, we present numerical examples indicating that the sole verification of the eigenvalues can lead to confusion in the identification of the elastic symmetry.
The purpose of this article is to give a complete and general answer to the recurrent problem in continuum mechanics of the determination of the number and the type of symmetry classes of an even-order tensor space. This kind of investigation was initiated for the space of elasticity tensors. Since then, different authors solved this problem for other kinds of physics such as photoelectricity, piezoelectricity, flexoelectricity, and strain-gradient elasticity. All the aforementioned problems were treated by the same computational method. Although being effective, this method suffers the drawba…
Usual introductions of the concept of motion are not well adapted to a subsequent, strictly tensorial, theory of elasticity. The consideration of arbitrary coordinate systems for the representation of both, the points in the laboratory, and the material points (comoving coordinates), allows to develop a simple, old fashioned theory, where only measurable quantities -like the Cauchy stress- need be introduced. The theory accounts for the possibility of asymmetric stress (Cosserat elastic media), but, contrary to usual developments of the theory, the basic variable is not a micro-rotation, but t…
We address the problem, not of the determination -- which usually needs numerical methods -- but of an accurate analytical estimation of the distance of a raw elasticity tensor to cubic symmetry and to orthotropy. We point out that there are not one but several secondorder tensors that carry the likely cubic/orthotropic coordinate system of the raw tensor. Since all the second-order covariants of an (exactly) cubic elasticity tensor are isotropic, distance estimates based only on such covariants are not always accurate. We extend to cubic symmetry and to orthotropy the technique recently sugge…
We formulate necessary and sufficient conditions for a unit vector n to generate a plane or axial symmetry of a constitutive tensor. For the elasticity tensor, these conditions consist of two polynomial equations of degree lower than four in the components of n. Compared to Cowin-Mehrabadi conditions, this is an improvement, since these equations involve only the normal vector n to the plane symmetry (and no vector perpendicular to n). Similar reduced algebraic conditions are obtained for linear piezo-electricity and for totally symmetric tensors up to order 6.
A covariant formulation of the virtual power principle based on Lie derivatives is proposed. The Lie covariant approach does not require an inner product and the Cauchy deformation tensor to start, but, at first order in a Galilean Euclidean setting, gives the usual linear results classically obtained with the Cauchy deformation tensor. The Lie approach may also enable to dfferentiate a fluid from a solid from an analytical point of view, and leads to propose a model for hysteresis. In the non-linear first order case we get covariant models for visco-elasticity, non linear fluids and non linea…
Constitutive tensors are of common use in mechanics of materials. To determine the relevant symmetry class of an experimental tensor is still a tedious problem. For instance, it requires numerical methods in three-dimensional elasticity. We address here the more affordable case of plane (bi-dimensional) elasticity, which has not been fully solved yet. We recall first Vianello's orthogonal projection method, valid for both the isotropic and the square symmetric (tetragonal) symmetry classes. We then solve in a closed-form the problem of the distance to plane elasticity orthotropy, thanks to the…
This paper deals with the homogenization through $Γ$-convergence of weakly coercive integral energies with the oscillating density $\mathbb{L}(x/ε)\nabla v : \nabla v$ in three-dimensional elasticity. The energies are weakly coercive in the sense where the classical functional coercivity satisfied by the periodic tensor L (using smooth test functions v with compact support in $\mathbb{R}^3$) which reads as $Λ(\mathbb{L}) >0$, is replaced by the relaxed condition $Λ(\mathbb{L}) \ge 0$. Surprisingly, we prove that contrary to the two-dimensional case of [2] which seems a priori more constrained,…
Generically, a fully measured elasticity tensor has no material symmetry. For single crystals with a cubic lattice, or for the aeronautics turbine blades superalloys such as Nickelbased CMSX-4, cubic symmetry is nevertheless expected. It is in practice necessary to compute the nearest cubic elasticity tensor to a given raw one. Mathematically formulated, the problem consists in finding the distance between a given tensor and the cubic symmetry stratum. It is known that closed symmetry strata (for any tensorial representation of the rotation group) are semialgebraic sets, defined by polynomial …
