Principal Stress and Strain Trajectories in Nonlinear Elastostatics

The Maxwell-Lame equations governing the principal components of Cauchy stress for plane deformations are well known in the context of photo-elasticity, and they form a pair of coupled first-order hyperbolic partial differential equations when the deformation geometry is known. In the present paper this theme is developed for nonlinear isotropic elastic materials by supplementing the (Lagrangean form of the) equilibrium equations by a pair of compatibility equations governing the deformation. The resulting equations form a system of four first-order partial differential equations governing the principal stretches of the plane deformation and the two angles which define the orientation of the Lagrangean and Eulerian principal axes of the deformation. Coordinate curves are chosen to coincide locally with the Lagrangean (Eulerian) principal strain trajectories in the undeformed (deformed) material. Coupled with appropriate boundary conditions these equations can be used to calculate directly the principal stretches and stresses together with their trajectories. The theory is illustrated by means of a simple example.