MANE 4240 & CIVL 4240

Introduction to Finite Elements

Prof. Suvranu De

Introduction to 3D
Elasticity

Reading assignment:
Appendix C+ 6.1+ 9.1 + Lecture notes
Summary:
3D elasticity problem
Governing differential equation + boundary conditions
Strain-displacement relationship
Stress-strain relationship
Special cases
2D (plane stress, plane strain)
Axisymmetric body with axisymmetric loading
Principle of minimum potential energy

1D Elasticity (axially loaded bar)

y
F
x
x=0

x=L

A(x) = cross section at x

b(x) = body force distribution
(force per unit length)
x E(x) = Youngs modulus
u(x) = displacement of the bar
at x

1. Strong formulation: Equilibrium equation + boundary

conditions
Equilibrium equation
Boundary conditions

d
b 0;
dx

0 xL

u 0 at x 0
du
EA
F at x L
dx

2. Strain-displacement relationship: (x)

du
dx

3. Stress-strain (constitutive) relation : (x) E (x)

E: Elastic (Youngs) modulus of bar

Problem definition
Surface (S)

3D Elasticity

V: Volume of body
S: Total surface of the body
Volume (V)
The deformation at point
w
x =[x,y,z]T
is given by the 3
v
u
u
components of its

z
u

v
displacement
x
w

NOTE: u= u(x,y,z), i.e., each
displacement component is a function
y
of position
x

3D Elasticity:
EXTERNAL FORCES ACTING ON THE BODY

Two basic types of external forces act on a body

1. Body force (force per unit volume) e.g., weight, inertia, etc
2. Surface traction (force per unit surface area) e.g., friction

BODY FORCE
Volume
element dV

Xc dV
Xb dV

w
u
z

x
y

Xa dV
Volume (V)
v
Surface (S)

Body force: distributed

force per unit volume (e.g.,
weight, inertia, etc)
Xa

X Xb
X
c

NOTE: If the body is accelerating, u

v
then the inertia force

may be considered as part of X

~
X X u

SURFACE TRACTION
Volume
element dV

pz

Xc dV
Xb dV p
x

Xa dV
w
Volume (V)
v
ST

u
z

x
y

Traction: Distributed
py force per unit surface
area

px

TS py
p
z

3D Elasticity:
INTERNAL FORCES

Volume
element dV
w
u
z

z
zy

zx

Volume (V)
v

xz
x

yz

xy

yx

y
x If I take out a chunk of material from the body, I will see that,
due to the external forces applied to it, there are reaction
forces (e.g., due to the loads applied to a truss structure, internal
forces develop in each truss member). For the cube in the figure,
the internal reaction forces per unit area(red arrows) , on each
surface, may be decomposed into three orthogonal components.

3D Elasticity

zx
xz
x

zy
xy

yz

yx

The stress vector is therefore

x, y and z are normal stresses.

The rest 6 are the shear stresses
Convention
xy is the stress on the face
perpendicular to the x-axis and points
in the +ve y direction
Total of 9 stress components of which
only 6 are independent since xy yx
yz zy
x
zx xz
y
z

xy
yz

zx

Strains: 6 independent strain components

x

y
z

xy
yz
zx

Consider the equilibrium of a differential volume element to

obtain the 3 equilibrium equations of elasticity
x xy xz

Xa 0
x
y
z
xy y yz

Xb 0
x
y
z
xz yz z

Xc 0
x
y
z

Compactly;
EQUILIBRIUM
EQUATIONS

X 0
T

where

y
0

z
0

z
0

(1)

3D elasticity problem is completely defined once we

understand the following three concepts
Strong formulation (governing differential equation +
boundary conditions)
Strain-displacement relationship
Stress-strain relationship

Volume
element dV

pz

Xc dV
Xb dV p
x

w
u
z

py

Xa dV
Volume (V)
v
ST

x
Su
y

x
1. Strong formulation of the 3D elasticity problem: Given the
externally applied loads (on ST and in V) and the specified
displacements (on Su) we want to solve for the resultant
displacements, strains and stresses required to maintain
equilibrium of the body.

Equilibrium equations

X 0 in V
T

(1)

Boundary conditions
1. Displacement boundary conditions: Displacements are specified
on portion Su of the boundary
uu

specified

on S u

2. Traction (force) boundary conditions: Tractions are specified on

portion ST of the boundary
Now, how do I express this mathematically?

Volume
element dV

pz

Xc dV
Xb dV p
x

Xa dV
w
Volume (V)
v
ST

u
z

x
Su

Traction: Distributed
py force per unit area
px

TS py
p
z

TS

nz

pz
n

Traction: Distributed
force per unit area
py

ny
nx

ST

px

nx

If the unit outward normal to ST : n n y

n
z
Then
p x x nx xy n y xz nz

p y xy nx y n y yz nz
p z xz nx zy n y z nz

px

TS py
p
z

In 2D

dy ds
y

dx

x
dx
sin
ny
ds
dy
cos
nx
ds

xy

ny
nx
ST

py

dy
xy

ds
dx

TS
px

y
Consider the equilibrium of the wedge in
x-direction
p x ds x dy xy dx
dy
dx
xy
ds
ds
p x x n x xy n y
px x

Similarly
p y xy n x y n y

3D elasticity problem is completely defined once we

understand the following three concepts
Strong formulation (governing differential equation +
boundary conditions)
Strain-displacement relationship
Stress-strain relationship

2. Strain-displacement relationships:
u
x
v
y
y
w
z
z
u v
xy

y x
v w
yz
z y
u w
zx

z x

Compactly;

(2)

x

x

y
z

xy
yz

zx

y
0

z
0

z
0

u

u v
w

u
dy
y

In 2D

v
dy
y

y
C

A
u
1
dy
v
A dx B

dx
u
dx u dx

x
x
u

dx
x

v
v
dy v dy
y
v

dy
y

dx
A' B' AB

x

AB

dy

A' C' AC

y

AC

xy angle (C' A' B' ) 1 2 tan 1 tan 2

2
v
u

x
x

v
dx
x

3D elasticity problem is completely defined once we

understand the following three concepts
Strong formulation (governing differential equation +
boundary conditions)
Strain-displacement relationship
Stress-strain relationship

3. Stress-Strain relationship:
Linear elastic material (Hookes Law)
D

(3)

Linear elastic isotropic material

D
(1 )(1 2 )

1

1

1
0

0
0
1 2
2

0
0

0
0

1 2
2

1 2
2

Special cases:
1. 1D elastic bar (only 1 component of the stress (stress) is
nonzero. All other stress (strain) components are zero)
Recall the (1) equilibrium, (2) strain-displacement and (3) stressstrain laws
2. 2D elastic problems: 2 situations
PLANE STRESS
PLANE STRAIN
3. 3D elastic problem: special case-axisymmetric body with
axisymmetric loading (we will skip this)

PLANE STRESS: Only the in-plane stress components are nonzero

Area
element dA

D
y

Nonzero stress components x , y , xy

xy

xy

Assumptions:
1. h<<D
2. Top and bottom surfaces are free from
traction
3. Xc=0 and pz=0

PLANE STRESS Examples:

1. Thin plate with a hole
xy

2. Thin cantilever plate

xy

PLANE STRESS
Nonzero stresses: x , y , xy
Nonzero strains: x , y , z , xy
Isotropic linear elastic stress-strain law D
x
E

y
2
1

xy

1
1

y

xy

0
0

1
0 0

x y
z
1

Hence, the D matrix for the plane stress case is

1
1

0
E
D
0
2
1
1
0 0

PLANE STRAIN: Only the in-plane strain components are nonzero

Nonzero strain components x , y , xy
Area
element dA

x
z

xy

xy

Assumptions:
1. Displacement components u,v functions
of (x,y) only and w=0
2. Top and bottom surfaces are fixed
3. Xc=0
4. px and py do not vary with z

PLANE STRAIN Examples:

1. Dam

Slice of unit
thickness

xy

xy

x
z
2. Long cylindrical pressure vessel subjected to internal/external
pressure and constrained at the ends

PLANE STRAIN
Nonzero stress: x , y , z , xy
Nonzero strain components: x , y , xy
Isotropic linear elastic stress-strain law D

x
1

1
y
1 1 2

0
0
xy

y

xy

0
0
1 2

z x y

Hence, the D matrix for the plane strain case is

E
1 1 2

1

1

0
0
1 2

Example problem

The square block is in plane strain

and is subjected to the following
strains

2
2

1
2

x 2 xy
x

y 3xy 2
xy x 2 y 3

Compute the displacement field (i.e., displacement components

u(x,y) and v(x,y)) within the block

Solution
Recall from definition
u
x
2 xy
(1)
x
v
y
3xy 2 (2)
y
u v
xy

x 2 y 3 (3)
y x

Arbitrary function of x

Integrating (1) and (2)

u ( x, y ) x 2 y C1 ( y )

( 4)

v( x, y ) xy 3 C2 ( x)

(5)

Arbitrary function of y

Plug expressions in (4) and (5) into equation (3)

u v

x 2 y 3 (3)
y x

x 2 y C1 ( y ) xy 3 C2 ( x)

x2 y3
y
x
C1 ( y )
C2 ( x)
2
3
x
y
x2 y3
y
x
C ( y ) C2 ( x)
1

0
y
x

Function of y

Function of x

Hence
C1 ( y )
C2 ( x)

C (a constant )
y
x

Integrate to obtain
C1 ( y ) Cy D1
C2 ( x) Cx D2

D1 and D2 are two constants of

integration

Plug these back into equations (4) and (5)

(4) u ( x, y ) x 2 y Cy D1
(5) v( x, y ) xy 3 Cx D2

How to find C, D1 and D2?

Use the 3 boundary conditions

u (0,0) 0

v(0,0) 0
v(2,0) 0

To obtain
C 0
D1 0
D2 0
Hence the solution is
u ( x, y ) x 2 y
v( x, y ) xy 3

2
2

1
2

Principle of Minimum Potential Energy

Definition: For a linear elastic body subjected to body forces
X=[Xa,Xb,Xc]T and surface tractions TS=[px,py,pz]T, causing
displacements u=[u,v,w]T and strains and stresses , the potential
energy is defined as the strain energy minus the potential energy
of the loads involving X and TS
U-W

Volume
element dV

pz

Xc dV

py

Xb dV p
x

Xa dV
w
Volume (V)
v
ST

u
z

x
Su

1
T
U dV
2 V
W u X dV u T S dS
T

ST

Strain energy of the elastic body

Using the stress-strain law D
1
1
T
T
U dV D dV
2 V
2 V

In 1D
1
1
1 L
2
U dV E dV E 2 Adx
2 V
2 V
2 x 0

In 2D plane stress and plane strain

1
U x x y y xy xy dV
2 V
Why?

Principle of minimum potential energy: Among all admissible

displacement fields the one that satisfies the equilibrium equations
also render the potential energy a minimum.
admissible displacement field:
1. first derivative of the displacement components exist
2. satisfies the boundary conditions on Su