Deformation

(physics)

In physics, deformation is t he cont inuum mechanics t ransformat ion of a body from a

reference configurat ion t o a current configurat ion.[1] A configurat ion is a set cont aining t he
posit ions of all part icles of t he body.

The deformation of a thin straight rod into a closed loop. The length of the rod remains almost unchanged during the
deformation, which indicates that the strain is small. In this particular case of bending, displacements associated with
rigid translations and rotations of material elements in the rod are much greater than displacements associated with
straining.

A deformat ion can occur because of ext ernal loads,[2] int rinsic act ivit y (e.g. muscle
cont ract ion), body forces (such as gravit y or elect romagnet ic forces), or changes in
t emperat ure, moist ure cont ent , or chemical react ions, et c.
Strain is relat ed t o deformat ion in t erms of relative displacement of part icles in t he body
t hat excludes rigid-body mot ions. Different equivalent choices may be made for t he
expression of a st rain field depending on whet her it is defined wit h respect t o t he init ial or t he
final configurat ion of t he body and on whet her t he met ric t ensor or it s dual is considered.

In a cont inuous body, a deformat ion field result s from a st ress field due t o applied forces or
because of some changes in t he t emperat ure field of t he body. The relat ion bet ween st ress
and st rain is expressed by const it ut ive equat ions, e.g., Hooke's law for linear elast ic mat erials.
Deformat ions which ceases t o exist aft er st ress field is removed are t ermed as elastic
deformation. In t his case, t he cont inuum complet ely recovers it s original configurat ion. On
t he ot her hand, irreversible deformat ions remain. They exist even aft er st resses have been
removed. One t ype of irreversible deformat ion is plastic deformation, which occurs in
mat erial bodies aft er st resses have at t ained a cert ain t hreshold value known as t he elastic
limit or yield st ress, and are t he result of slip, or dislocat ion mechanisms at t he at omic level.
Anot her t ype of irreversible deformat ion is viscous deformation, which is t he irreversible
part of viscoelast ic deformat ion.

In t he case of elast ic deformat ions, t he response funct ion linking st rain t o t he deforming
st ress is t he compliance t ensor of t he mat erial.

Strain

St rain represent s t he displacement bet ween part icles in t he body relat ive t o a reference
lengt h.

Deformat ion of a body is expressed in t he form x = F(X) where X is t he reference posit ion of
mat erial point s of t he body. Such a measure does not dist inguish bet ween rigid body mot ions
(t ranslat ions and rot at ions) and changes in shape (and size) of t he body. A deformat ion has
unit s of lengt h.

We could, for example, define st rain t o be

where I is t he ident it y t ensor.

Hence st rains are dimensionless and are usually expressed as a
decimal fract ion, a percent age or in part s-per not at ion. St rains measure how much a given
deformat ion differs locally from a rigid-body deformat ion.[3]

A st rain is in general a t ensor quant it y. Physical insight int o st rains can be gained by observing
t hat a given st rain can be decomposed int o normal and shear component s. The amount of
st ret ch or compression along mat erial line element s or fibers is t he normal strain, and t he
amount of dist ort ion associat ed wit h t he sliding of plane layers over each ot her is t he shear
strain, wit hin a deforming body.[4] This could be applied by elongat ion, short ening, or volume
changes, or angular dist ort ion.[5]

The st at e of st rain at a mat erial point of a cont inuum body is defined as t he t ot alit y of all t he
changes in lengt h of mat erial lines or fibers, t he normal strain, which pass t hrough t hat point
and also t he t ot alit y of all t he changes in t he angle bet ween pairs of lines init ially
perpendicular t o each ot her, t he shear strain, radiat ing from t his point . However, it is sufficient
t o know t he normal and shear component s of st rain on a set of t hree mut ually perpendicular
direct ions.

If t here is an increase in lengt h of t he mat erial line, t he normal st rain is called tensile strain,
ot herwise, if t here is reduct ion or compression in t he lengt h of t he mat erial line, it is called
compressive strain.

Strain measures

Depending on t he amount of st rain, or local deformat ion, t he analysis of deformat ion is

subdivided int o t hree deformat ion t heories:

Finit e st rain t heory, also called large strain theory, large deformation theory, deals wit h
deformat ions in which bot h rot at ions and st rains are arbit rarily large. In t his case, t he
undeformed and deformed configurat ions of t he cont inuum are significant ly different and a
clear dist inct ion has t o be made bet ween t hem. This is commonly t he case wit h
elast omers, plast ically-deforming mat erials and ot her fluids and biological soft t issue.

Infinit esimal st rain t heory, also called small strain theory, small deformation theory, small
displacement theory, or small displacement-gradient theory where st rains and rot at ions are
bot h small. In t his case, t he undeformed and deformed configurat ions of t he body can be
assumed ident ical. The infinit esimal st rain t heory is used in t he analysis of deformat ions of
mat erials exhibit ing elast ic behavior, such as mat erials found in mechanical and civil
engineering applicat ions, e.g. concret e and st eel.

Large-displacement or large-rotation theory, which assumes small st rains but large rot at ions
and displacement s.

In each of t hese t heories t he st rain is t hen defined different ly. The engineering strain is t he
most common definit ion applied t o mat erials used in mechanical and st ruct ural engineering,
which are subject ed t o very small deformat ions. On t he ot her hand, for some mat erials, e.g.
elast omers and polymers, subject ed t o large deformat ions, t he engineering definit ion of st rain
is not applicable, e.g. t ypical engineering st rains great er t han 1%,[6] t hus ot her more complex
definit ions of st rain are required, such as stretch, logarithmic strain, Green strain, and Almansi
strain.

Engineering strain

The Engineering strain also known as Cauchy strain is expressed as t he rat io of t ot al

deformat ion t o t he init ial dimension of t he mat erial body on which forces are applied. The
engineering normal strain or engineering extensional strain or nominal strain e of a mat erial
line element or fiber axially loaded is expressed as t he change in lengt h ΔL per unit of t he
original lengt h L of t he line element or fibers. The normal st rain is posit ive if t he mat erial
fibers are st ret ched and negat ive if t hey are compressed. Thus, we have

where e is t he engineering normal strain, L is t he original lengt h of t he fiber and l is t he final

lengt h of t he fiber. Measures of st rain are oft en expressed in part s per million or microst rains.

The true shear strain is defined as t he change in t he angle (in radians) bet ween t wo mat erial
line element s init ially perpendicular t o each ot her in t he undeformed or init ial configurat ion.
The engineering shear strain is defined as t he t angent of t hat angle, and is equal t o t he lengt h
of deformat ion at it s maximum divided by t he perpendicular lengt h in t he plane of force
applicat ion which somet imes makes it easier t o calculat e.

Stretch ratio

The stretch ratio or extension ratio is a measure of t he ext ensional or normal st rain of a
different ial line element , which can be defined at eit her t he undeformed configurat ion or t he
deformed configurat ion. It is defined as t he rat io bet ween t he final lengt h l and t he init ial
lengt h L of t he mat erial line.

The ext ension rat io is approximat ely relat ed t o t he engineering st rain by

This equat ion implies t hat t he normal st rain is zero, so t hat t here is no deformat ion when t he
st ret ch is equal t o unit y.

The st ret ch rat io is used in t he analysis of mat erials t hat exhibit large deformat ions, such as
elast omers, which can sust ain st ret ch rat ios of 3 or 4 before t hey fail. On t he ot her hand,
t radit ional engineering mat erials, such as concret e or st eel, fail at much lower st ret ch rat ios.
True strain

The logarithmic strain ε, also called, true strain or Hencky strain.[7] Considering an
increment al st rain (Ludwik)

t he logarit hmic st rain is obt ained by int egrat ing t his increment al st rain:

where e is t he engineering st rain. The logarit hmic st rain provides t he correct measure of t he
final st rain when deformat ion t akes place in a series of increment s, t aking int o account t he
influence of t he st rain pat h.[4]

Green strain

The Green st rain is defined as:

Almansi strain

The Euler-Almansi st rain is defined as

Normal and shear strain

Two-dimensional geometric deformation of an infinitesimal material element.

St rains are classified as eit her normal or shear. A normal strain is perpendicular t o t he face of
an element , and a shear strain is parallel t o it . These definit ions are consist ent wit h t hose of
normal st ress and shear st ress.

Normal strain

For an isot ropic mat erial t hat obeys Hooke's law, a normal st ress will cause a normal st rain.
Normal st rains produce dilations.

Consider a t wo-dimensional, infinit esimal, rect angular mat erial element wit h dimensions
dx × dy, which, aft er deformat ion, t akes t he form of a rhombus. The deformat ion is described
by t he displacement field u. From t he geomet ry of t he adjacent figure we have

and
For very small displacement gradient s t he square of t he derivat ive of are negligible and
we have

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

Similarly, t he normal st rain in t he y- and z-direct ions becomes

Shear strain

Shear strain

Common symbols γ or ε

SI unit 1, or radian

Derivations from
τ
γ= G
other quantities

The engineering shear st rain (γxy) is defined as t he change in angle bet ween lines AC and AB.
Therefore,

From t he geomet ry of t he figure, we have

For small displacement gradient s we have

For small rot at ions, i.e. α and β are ≪ 1 we have tan α ≈ α, tan β ≈ β. Therefore,

t hus

By int erchanging x and y and ux and uy, it can be shown t hat γxy = γyx.

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

The 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, γ, as

Metric tensor

A st rain field associat ed wit h a displacement is defined, at any point , by t he change in lengt h
of t he t angent vect ors represent ing t he speeds of arbit rarily paramet rized curves passing
t hrough t hat point . A basic geomet ric result , due t o Fréchet , von Neumann and Jordan, st at es
t hat , if t he lengt hs of t he t angent vect ors fulfil t he axioms of a norm and t he parallelogram
law, t hen t he lengt h of a vect or is t he square root of t he value of t he quadrat ic form
associat ed, by t he polarizat ion formula, wit h a posit ive definit e bilinear map called t he met ric
t ensor.

Description of deformation

Deformat ion is t he change in t he met ric propert ies of a cont inuous body, meaning t hat a
curve drawn in t he init ial body placement changes it s lengt h when displaced t o a curve in t he
final placement . If none of t he curves changes lengt h, it is said t hat a rigid body displacement
occurred.

It is convenient t o ident ify a reference configurat ion or init ial geomet ric st at e of t he
cont inuum body which all subsequent configurat ions are referenced from. The reference
configurat ion need not be one t he body act ually will ever occupy. Oft en, t he configurat ion at
t = 0 is considered t he reference configurat ion, κ0(B). The configurat ion at t he current t ime t
is t he current configuration.

For deformat ion analysis, t he reference configurat ion is ident ified as undeformed
configuration, and t he current configurat ion as deformed configuration. Addit ionally, t ime is
not considered when analyzing deformat ion, t hus t he sequence of configurat ions bet ween
t he undeformed and deformed configurat ions are of no int erest .

The component s Xi of t he posit ion vect or X of a part icle in t he reference configurat ion,
t aken wit h respect t o t he reference coordinat e syst em, are called t he material or reference
coordinates. On t he ot her hand, t he component s xi of t he posit ion vect or x of a part icle in
t he deformed configurat ion, t aken wit h respect t o t he spat ial coordinat e syst em of
reference, are called t he spatial coordinates

There are t wo met hods for analysing t he deformat ion of a cont inuum. One descript ion is
made in t erms of t he mat erial or referent ial coordinat es, called mat erial descript ion or
Lagrangian descript ion. A second descript ion of deformat ion is made in t erms of t he spat ial
coordinat es it is called t he spat ial descript ion or Eulerian descript ion.

There is cont inuit y during deformat ion of a cont inuum body in t he sense t hat :

The mat erial point s forming a closed curve at any inst ant will always form a closed curve at
any subsequent t ime.

The mat erial point s forming a closed surface at any inst ant will always form a closed
surface at any subsequent t ime and t he mat t er wit hin t he closed surface will always
remain wit hin.

Affine deformation

A deformat ion is called an affine deformat ion if it can be described by an affine

t ransformat ion. Such a t ransformat ion is composed of a linear t ransformat ion (such as
rot at ion, shear, ext ension and compression) and a rigid body t ranslat ion. Affine deformat ions
are also called homogeneous deformat ions.[8]

Therefore, an affine deformat ion has t he form

where x is t he posit ion of a point in t he deformed configurat ion, X is t he posit ion in a

reference configurat ion, t is a t ime-like paramet er, F is t he linear t ransformer and c is t he
t ranslat ion. In mat rix form, where t he component s are wit h respect t o an ort honormal basis,
The above deformat ion becomes non-affine or inhomogeneous if F = F(X,t) or c = c(X,t).

Rigid body motion

A rigid body mot ion is a special affine deformat ion t hat does not involve any shear, ext ension
or compression. The t ransformat ion mat rix F is proper ort hogonal in order t o allow rot at ions
but no reflect ions.

A rigid body mot ion can be described by

where

In mat rix form,

Displacement
Figure 1. Motion of a continuum body.

A change in t he configurat ion of a cont inuum body result s in a displacement . The

displacement of a body has t wo component s: a rigid-body displacement and a deformat ion. A
rigid-body displacement consist s of a simult aneous t ranslat ion and rot at ion of t he body
wit hout changing it s shape or size. Deformat ion implies t he change in shape and/or size of t he
body from an init ial or undeformed configurat ion κ0(B) t o a current or deformed configurat ion
κt(B) (Figure 1).

If aft er a displacement of t he cont inuum t here is a relat ive displacement bet ween part icles,
a deformat ion has occurred. On t he ot her hand, if aft er displacement of t he cont inuum t he
relat ive displacement bet ween part icles in t he current configurat ion is zero, t hen t here is no
deformat ion and a rigid-body displacement is said t o have occurred.

The vect or joining t he posit ions of a part icle P in t he undeformed configurat ion and deformed
configurat ion is called t he displacement vect or u(X,t) = uiei in t he Lagrangian descript ion, or
U(x,t) = UJE J in t he Eulerian descript ion.

A displacement field is a vect or field of all displacement vect ors for all part icles in t he body,
which relat es t he deformed configurat ion wit h t he undeformed configurat ion. It is convenient
t o do t he analysis of deformat ion or mot ion of a cont inuum body in t erms of t he
displacement field. In general, t he displacement field is expressed in t erms of t he mat erial
coordinat es as

or in t erms of t he spat ial coordinat es as

where αJi are t he direct ion cosines bet ween t he mat erial and spat ial coordinat e syst ems wit h
unit vect ors E J and ei, respect ively. Thus

and t he relat ionship bet ween ui and UJ is t hen given by

Knowing t hat

t hen
It is common t o superimpose t he coordinat e syst ems for t he undeformed and deformed
configurat ions, which result s in b = 0, and t he direct ion cosines become Kronecker delt as:

Thus, we have

or in t erms of t he spat ial coordinat es as

Displacement gradient tensor

The part ial different iat ion of t he displacement vect or wit h respect t o t he mat erial
coordinat es yields t he material displacement gradient tensor ∇ u. Thus we have:
X

or

where F is t he deformation gradient tensor.

Similarly, t he part ial different iat ion of t he displacement vect or wit h respect t o t he spat ial
coordinat es yields t he spatial displacement gradient tensor ∇ U. Thus we have,
x

or

Examples of deformations

Homogeneous (or affine) deformat ions are useful in elucidat ing t he behavior of mat erials.
Some homogeneous deformat ions of int erest are

uniform ext ension

pure dilat ion

equibiaxial t ension

simple shear
 pure shear

Plane deformat ions are also of int erest , part icularly in t he experiment al cont ext .

Plane deformation

A plane deformat ion, also called plane strain, is one where t he deformat ion is rest rict ed t o
one of t he planes in t he reference configurat ion. If t he deformat ion is rest rict ed t o t he plane
described by t he basis vect ors e1, e2, t he deformat ion gradient has t he form

In mat rix form,

From t he polar decomposit ion t heorem, t he deformat ion gradient , up t o a change of

coordinat es, can be decomposed int o a st ret ch and a rot at ion. Since all t he deformat ion is in
a plane, we can writ e [8]

where θ is t he angle of rot at ion and λ1, λ2 are t he principal st ret ches.

Isochoric plane deformation

If t he deformat ion is isochoric (volume preserving) t hen det(F) = 1 and we have

Alt ernat ively,

Simple shear

A simple shear deformat ion is defined as an isochoric plane deformat ion in which t here is a set
of line element s wit h a given reference orient at ion t hat do not change lengt h and orient at ion
during t he deformat ion.[8]

If e1 is t he fixed reference orient at ion in which line element s do not deform during t he
deformat ion t hen λ1 = 1 and F·e1 = e1.
Therefore,
Since t he deformat ion is isochoric,

Define

Then, t he deformat ion gradient in simple shear can be expressed as

Now,

Since

we can also writ e t he deformat ion gradient as

See also

The deformat ion of long element s such as beams or st uds due t o bending forces is known
as deflection.

Euler–Bernoulli beam t heory

Deformat ion (engineering)

Finit e st rain t heory

Infinit esimal st rain t heory

Moiré pat t ern

Shear modulus

Shear st ress

Shear st rengt h

St ress (mechanics)

St ress measures
 References

1. Truesdell, C.; Noll, W. (2004). The non-linear field theories of mechanics (3rd ed.). Springer. p. 48.

2. Wu, H.-C. (2005). Continuum Mechanics and Plasticity. CRC Press. ISBN 1-58488-363-4.

3. Lubliner, Jacob (2008). Plasticity Theory (https://web.archive.org/web/20100331022415/http://ww

w.ce.berkeley.edu/~coby/plas/pdf/book.pdf) (PDF) (Revised ed.). Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-
46290-0. Archived from the original (http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/~coby/plas/pdf/book.pdf) (PDF)
on 2010-03-31.

4. Rees, David (2006). Basic Engineering Plasticity: An Introduction with Engineering and
Manufacturing Applications (https://books.google.com/books?id=4KWbmn_1hcYC) . Butterworth-
Heinemann. ISBN 0-7506-8025-3. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20171222205706/https://
books.google.com/books?id=4KWbmn_1hcYC) from the original on 2017-12-22.

5. "Earth."Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD .
[2009].

6. Rees, David (2006). Basic Engineering Plasticity: An Introduction with Engineering and
Manufacturing Applications (https://books.google.com/books?id=4KWbmn_1hcYC) . Butterworth-
Heinemann. p. 41. ISBN 0-7506-8025-3. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20171222205706/h
ttps://books.google.com/books?id=4KWbmn_1hcYC) from the original on 2017-12-22.

7. Hencky, H. (1928). "Über die Form des Elastizitätsgesetzes bei ideal elastischen Stoffen". Zeitschrift
für technische Physik. 9: 215–220.

8. Ogden, R. W. (1984). Non-linear Elastic Deformations. Dover.

Further reading

Bazant , Zdenek P.; Cedolin, Luigi (2010). Three-Dimensional Continuum Instabilities and
Effects of Finite Strain Tensor, chapter 11 in "Stability of Structures", 3rd ed (ht t ps://books.go
ogle.com/books?id=qwPlsZF6t hUC) . Singapore, New Jersey, London: World Scient ific
Publishing. ISBN 9814317039.

Dill, Ellis Harold (2006). Continuum Mechanics: Elasticity, Plasticity, Viscoelasticity (ht t ps://b
ooks.google.com/books?id=Nn4kzt fbR3AC) . Germany: CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-9779-0.

Hut t er, Kolumban; Jöhnk, Klaus (2004). Continuum Methods of Physical Modeling (ht t ps://b
ooks.google.com/books?id=B-dxx724YD4C) . Germany: Springer. ISBN 3-540-20619-1.

Jirasek, M; Bazant , Z.P. (2002). Inelastic Analysis of Structures (ht t ps://books.google.com/b

ooks?id=8mz-xPdvH00C) . London and New York: J. Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0471987166.

Lubarda, Vlado A. (2001). Elastoplasticity Theory (ht t ps://books.google.com/books?id=1P0L

ybL4oAgC) . CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-1138-1.
 Macosko, C. W. (1994). Rheology: principles, measurement and applications. VCH Publishers.
ISBN 1-56081-579-5.

Mase, George E. (1970). Continuum Mechanics (ht t ps://books.google.com/books?id=bAdg

6yxC0xUC) . McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 0-07-040663-4.

Mase, G. Thomas; Mase, George E. (1999). Continuum Mechanics for Engineers (ht t ps://boo
ks.google.com/books?id=uI1ll0A8B_ UC) (2nd ed.). CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-1855-6.

Nemat -Nasser, Sia (2006). Plasticity: A Treatise on Finite Deformation of Heterogeneous

Inelastic Materials (ht t ps://books.google.com/books?id=5nO78Rt 0Bt MC) . Cambridge:
Cambridge Universit y Press. ISBN 0-521-83979-3.

Prager, William (1961). Introduction to Mechanics of Continua (ht t ps://books.google.com/bo

oks?id=Feer6-hn9zsC) . Bost on: Ginn and Co. ISBN 0486438090.

Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Deformation_(physics)&oldid=1063296943
#Strain"

Last edited 19 days ago by Jolly1253