Strain energy density ($W$)

In three-dimensional isotropic linear elasticity, decompose the symmetric strain as $e=pI+d$ with $p=\mathrm{tr}(e)/3$ and $\mathrm{tr}d=0$. The stored energy is $E=\mu {\sum }_{ij}{d}_{ij}^2+\frac{3}{2}(3\lambda +2\mu )p^2$. Its nonnegativity for every strain is equivalent to the displayed inequalities: the traceless and purely volumetric test strains prove necessity, and the sum of squares proves sufficiency.