Past exam of the solid mechanics course of the University of Oxford / 2023 / 2 / a / Solution

The radial unit vector in spherical coordinates is ${\mathbf{e}}_R=\mathbf{X}/R$, so $\mathbf{X}\otimes \mathbf{X}/R^2={\mathbf{e}}_R\otimes {\mathbf{e}}_R$. The identity matrix is the sum of the three basis outer products. Substitution in the given deformation gradient givesThe reference and current radial directions coincide for this spherically symmetric deformation. The positive principal stretches are therefore ${\lambda }_r=f^{\prime }(R)$ and ${\lambda }_{\theta }={\lambda }_{\varphi }=f(R)/R$. Incompressibility imposesIntegrating and using $f(A)=a$ givesIn particular $b^3-a^3=B^3-A^3$, expressing conservation of shell volume. Writing $\lambda =r/R$ also gives ${\lambda }_r={\lambda }^{-2}$ and ${\lambda }_{\theta }={\lambda }_{\varphi }=\lambda$.