Past exam of the solid mechanics course of the University of Oxford / 2011 / 1 / a / Solution

A homogeneous hyperelastic material has a strain energy density per unit reference volume $W(F)$ depending on the deformation gradient, with no explicit dependence on the reference configuration. For orientation-preserving gradients $F\in G{L}^{+}(3)$, its first Piola-Kirchhoff stress tensor is the derivative:Equivalently the infinitesimal stored-energy change is $DW(F)[H]=T:H$. Reference and spatial indices are distinguished here by upper- and lowercase index letters.

The material symmetry group may be written $G_W=\{H\in G{L}^{+}(3):W(FH)=W(F)\text{ for every }F\in G{L}^{+}(3)\}$. A volume-preserving relabelling convention restricts the candidate $H$ to $SL(3)$; the material isotropy criterion is the same. The material has material isotropy when $SO(3)\subseteq G_W$, meaning $W(FQ)=W(F)$ for every proper rotation $Q$. If only rotational symmetries are included in the definition of the group, material isotropy means that group equals $SO(3)$. This right-rotation invariance is distinct from material frame indifference, the left-rotation invariance $W(QF)=W(F)$.

The polar decomposition in continuum mechanics gives the unique factorizationswhere $U,V$ are positive-definite symmetric matrices. Their common positive eigenvalues ${\lambda }_1,{\lambda }_2,{\lambda }_3$ are the principal stretches, equivalently the singular values of $F$. They describe the local stretch magnitudes after separating out a rigid rotation.