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

Take a singular value decomposition $F=Q_{1}D{Q}_2^T$, with $D=\mathrm{diag}({\lambda }_1,{\lambda }_2,{\lambda }_3)$ positive and $Q_1,Q_2\in SO(3)$. Such a choice is possible because $\det F>0$. Left material frame indifference removes $Q_1$, and right material isotropy removes $Q_2$, giving $W(F)=W(D)$.

Moreover $W(D)$ is unchanged when the positive diagonal entries are permuted. Every permutation can be implemented by a signed permutation matrix of determinant one; the signs disappear in conjugating a diagonal matrix. Thus the energy depends only on the unordered principal stretches.

The three invariants determine precisely this unordered triple: the roots of $t^3-I_B{t}^2+I{I}_{B}t-II{I}_B$ are ${\lambda }_1^2,{\lambda }_2^2,{\lambda }_3^2$, and their positive square roots give the stretches. Consequently, on the set of admissible invariant triples, define $h(I_B,I{I}_B,II{I}_B)$ to be $W(D)$. The preceding argument proves that this is well defined and thatNot every positive triple is realizable by three positive roots. Since the requested statement only asserts existence of a function on $(0,\infty {)}^3$, extend $h$ arbitrarily on the nonrealizable triples; no choice there affects the formula for a deformation in continuum mechanics. Smooth invariant representations, where needed for differentiating the constitutive equation, are understood locally on the realizable set.