= Thermal strain
{title2=$e^{\rm th}=\alpha_v(T-T_0)I/3$}
<Thermal strain> is the <strain> that heating would produce without mechanical <stress>. In isotropic linear thermoelasticity it is a pure dilation: a volumetric expansion coefficient $\alpha_v$ corresponds to a linear expansion coefficient $\alpha_v/3$. The constitutive law acts on the mechanical <strain> $e-e^{\rm th}$. Spatially varying <thermal strain> need not be globally compatible with a <stress>-free <displacement>.
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