Coleman-Noll procedure 2026-10-14
Requiring the Clausius-Duhem inequality for independent reversible mechanical and thermal variations constrains a constitutive equation. For it gives and . Combining the Lagrangian internal energy balance with the Lagrangian entropy inequality leaves . The independence assumptions are part of the constitutive argument.
Dissipation potential 2026-10-14
A force-dependent potential specifies internal-variable rates by differentiation. Convexity with a minimum at zero force can ensure nonnegative force-rate dissipation. The name alone does not ensure the Clausius-Duhem inequality for an arbitrary potential.
Take any fixed material subvolume of the reference configuration, with outward normal vector , current particle velocity , and positive temperature . The first law of thermodynamics, including kinetic energy, is
The heat-flux sign is negative because is outward. The Second law of thermodynamics supplies the corresponding integral Lagrangian entropy inequality:
The temperature in each supply or flux term is the local temperature, not a common temperature pulled outside the integrals.
Apply the divergence theorem and use the reference momentum conservation equation . In the total-energy equation, the kinetic derivative cancels the body-force work and the term. Since , the remaining local Lagrangian internal energy balance and Lagrangian entropy inequality are
They hold pointwise because was arbitrary. In particular,
The specific Helmholtz free energy is . Substitution yields its balance
and elimination of the heat supply yields the Clausius-Duhem inequality
For , expand the derivative to obtain
The usual Coleman-Noll procedure admits independent reversible choices of and at a fixed state. Their coefficients must vanish, since either sign and arbitrary magnitude would otherwise violate the inequality. Thus
Internal-variable evolution and heat conduction must satisfy this remaining inequality. Substituting the constitutive relations back into the energy balance gives
The last printed equation is missing a factor on its internal-variable term. The PDF defines with per unit mass, so the expression above is the dimensionally consistent consequence. Equivalently define the volumetric thermodynamic force conjugate to an internal variable ; the term is then with no extra density. The two conventions must not be mixed.
For thermoelasticity with a temperature-dependent constraint, admissible rates obey
The reversible coefficient functional need now vanish only on this tangent hyperplane. Hence it can be a scalar multiple of the constraint normal:
Therefore
The reaction terms cancel on admissible rates, leaving the same internal-variable/conduction inequality and entropy heating equation. The multiplier is determined by equilibrium and boundary conditions rather than by the free energy alone.
For linear thermoelasticity with prescribed thermal volume, write , , and . Hold the internal variables fixed in this reversible linearization, and evaluate all derivatives below at and zero reaction. The stress-free reference state has . Since there, first-order nominal and Cauchy stress tensors agree. Their constitutive laws become
where equality of mixed free-energy derivatives gives
The linearized constraint is . Thus volume is thermally prescribed; strict temperature-independent incompressibility corresponds to . The coefficient is an entropy slope; the corresponding volumetric heat capacity at fixed deformation is .
Together with , the first-order thermal balance is . A heat-flux constitutive law completes the evolution problem. The paired signs of the coupling tensor follow from the same free energy, rather than from separately postulated mechanical and thermal equations.
Use the material-first nominal stress tensor convention , with the deformation gradient. For any fixed reference material subvolume with outward unit normal , conservation of energy is
Here is body force per mass, is heat supply per mass and is nominal heat flux. Using momentum conservation to remove the kinetic energy balance gives the integral Lagrangian internal energy balance:
The integral Lagrangian entropy inequality is
where is temperature and is the thermodynamic entropy flux.
Since the subvolume is arbitrary, the divergence theorem gives
Expand and eliminate the heat supply between these relations. The Clausius-Duhem inequality becomes
Under the usual local constitutive independence assumptions, the reversible mechanical and thermal variations can have either sign. The Coleman-Noll procedure therefore imposes
Define the thermodynamic force conjugate to an internal variable by . The energy balance and the remaining entropy constraint now give, respectively,
The admissible rates obey . A reaction multiplier in the reversible nominal stress tensor therefore has an accompanying specific entropy contribution:
Their reaction contributions cancel in the Clausius-Duhem inequality on admissible rates. Omitting the entropy term would generally violate the constraint's power balance.