Past exam of the elasticity and plasticity course of the University of Oxford 2023 1 a Solution 2026-10-25
For antiplane shear, the displacement field is , independent of . Its divergence is zero. Consequently the only possibly nonzero components of the stress tensor are the shear stressesThe and components of the Navier-Cauchy equation vanish identically. Its component gives . Each material has constant shear modulus and mass density, so the required wave equation and wave speeds are
At a perfectly bonded elastic interface, both the displacement field and the traction are continuous. Using the same normal on both sides, the only nonzero traction component is . Thus the interface boundary conditions areContinuity of “stress” here means continuity of traction; it does not require equality of the full stress tensors. The rigid plate supplies the remaining boundary condition .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 50 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
At a perfectly bonded elastic interface without an interfacial force, displacement and traction are continuous:Tangential derivatives of the common displacement trace are also continuous. Thus the jump of a piecewise constant displacement gradient tensor annihilates every tangential vector, and has the form . Taking its symmetric part shows that the strain jump is , whereThe adjoint formula follows from for symmetric stress tensors. Tangential-tangential strain components are therefore common to all layers. Conversely, such gradient jumps can be realized by continuous piecewise affine displacement in the layered geometry.
Take positive elastic stiffness tensors with their usual minor and major symmetries, and a positive comparison elastic stiffness tensor . A fictitious layer can have the same tangential displacement derivatives and the same traction as the physical layers. Hence . The common traction condition giveswhere is the positive acoustic tensor, with components . Solving for givesExpanding the two occurrences of gives exactly the symmetrization over and in the directional elastic strain Green operator specified in the paper.
For any two layers, the inverse identity for their acoustic tensors proves the required resolvent relation without interchanging noncommuting tensors:With , this identity also gives . ThereforeThese finite-dimensional operators are inverses. Define . Then , and averaging strains and stresses givesEliminating the fictitious strain yieldsAll products have the displayed order; the elastic stiffness tensors need not commute.
It remains to justify the inverse and comparison independence. Consider two compatible equilibrated layer solutions with the same mean strain. Their difference has zero common tangential-tangential strain, so , with because is injective and the mean difference is zero. Their traction difference is one common vector . ThereforePositive elastic energy forces every to vanish. In particular, if , all physical layer strains vanish. Their common tangential components then force , and their zero traction gives . Hence , proving that is invertible. Finally, every positive choice of constructs the unique layer solution for the same . Its averaged stress is unique, so the displayed effective stiffness is independent of the fictitious comparison material. This is the exact layered constitutive response, rather than a claim that piecewise constant fields meet arbitrary finite-body boundary data.
Perfectly bonded elastic interface 2026-10-14
A perfectly bonded elastic interface has continuous displacement field and continuous traction, with the same chosen normal on both sides. For piecewise affine displacement fields, the difference of their gradients annihilates every tangential vector, and hence has the form . Their infinitesimal strain tensors differ by .