Analytically solving simple linear elasticity problems

Jules Jacobs May 1, 2012

Equations

The displacement equation of linear elasticity is:

( + ) ( u) + ( u) u|B = = 0 uB

Where u : S R3 where S R3 is the shape being deformed, and B is the region where boundary conditions are given.

Linear deformation

Because the equation only depends on second derivatives, ane u are solutions of the equation:
u(r) = Ar + b

If the boundary condition uB is a linear transformation, then the solution u will be the same linear deformation extended to the entire domain.

Cylindrical Couette cell

The shape S is an annulus with radii Rmin and Rmax , so we will use cylindrical coordinates. The boundary conditions are u(Rmin , , z) = C and u(Rmax , , z) = . In cylindrical coordinates we have: D
u = u = 1 1 u uz (rur ) + + r r r z 1 uz u ur uz 1 (ru ) ur ( ) + ( r ) + ( ) z r z z r r r

 We will guess that the solution will have the form u(r, , z) = f (r). We have: u = ( u) = 0

0 1 u = (rf (r)) z r r 1 u) = ( (rf (r))) r r r

Plug this into the equation:

( + ) ( u) + ( u) 1 ( (rf (r))) r r r (rf (r)) r rf (r) f (r) = = = 0 0 2Ar

= Ar2 + B = Ar + Br1

Here A and B are constants. The guess was succesful. Plug in the boundary conditions:
1 ARmin + BRmin 1 ARmax + BRmax 2 ARmin + B 2 ARmax + B 2 2 A(Rmax Rmin )

= C = D = CRmin = DRmax = DRmax CRmin DRmax CRmin = 2 2 Rmax Rmin

By symmetry:
B =
1 1 DRmax CRmin 2 2 Rmax Rmin

The nal solution is:

u(r, , z) = (
1 1 DRmax CRmin DRmax CRmin 1 r ) r+ 2 2 2 2 Rmax Rmin Rmax Rmin