Advanced Solid Mechanics

Assignment - 1: Mathematical Preliminaries

1. Give reasons for the following: (a) δii = 3, (b) δij δij = 3, (c) δij ai =
aj , (d) δij ajk = aik , (e) δij akj = aki , (f) δij aij = aii , (g) δij δjk δik = 3,
(h) δik δjm δij = δkm (i) kki = 0, (j) δij ijk = 0, (k) ijk ijk = 6, where
δij denotes the Kronecker delta and ijk the permutation symbol

2. Show that aij = aji when ijk ajk = 0. ijk is the permutation symbol

3. Expand aij bij

4. Expand Dij xi xj . If possible simplify the expression Dij xi xj when (a)

Dij = Dji (b) Dij = −Dji

5. Express the expression ci = Aij bj − bi as ci = Bij bj and thus obtain Bij

6. Consider two vectors a = e1 + 4e2 + 6e3 and b = 2e1 + 4e2 , where {ei }
are orthonormal Cartesian basis vectors. For these vectors compute,

(a) Norm of a
(b) The angle between vectors a and b
(c) The area of the parallelogram bounded by the vectors a and b
(d) b ∧ a
(e) The component of vector a in the direction z = e1 + e2 .

7. Show that y = mx where y and x are vectors and m is a scalar is

a linear transformation. Find the second order tensor that maps the
given vector x on to y.

8. Show that y = mx + c where y, x and c are vectors and m is a scalar

is not a linear transformation.

1
 9. Establish the following ijk Tjk ei = (T23 − T32 )e1 + (T31 − T13 )e2 + (T12 −
T21 )e3 and use this to show that δij ijk ek = o. Here {ei } denotes
the orthonormal Cartesian basis, δij the Kronecker delta and ijk the
permutation symbol

10. Show that if tensor A is positive definite then det(A) > 0

11. Using Cayley-Hamilton theorem, deduce that

I3 = {[tr(A)]3 − 3tr(A)tr(A2 ) + 2tr(A3 )}/6

for an arbitrary tensor A.

12. Let A be an arbitrary tensor. Show that At A and AAt are positive
semi-definite symmetric tensors. If A is invertible, prove that these
tensors - At A and AAt - are positive definite.

13. Let u, v, w, x be arbitrary vectors and A an arbitrary tensor. Show

that

(a) (u ⊗ v)(w ⊗ x) = (v · w)(u ⊗ x)

(b) A(u ⊗ v) = (Au) ⊗ v
(c) (u ⊗ v)A = u ⊗ (At v)

14. Let Q be a proper orthogonal tensor. If {p, q, r} form an orthonormal

basis then a general representation for Q is: Q = p ⊗ p + (q ⊗ q + r ⊗
r) cos(θ) + (r ⊗ q − q ⊗ r) sin(θ). Now, show that

(a) I1 = I2 = 1 + 2 cos(θ)
(b) I3 = 1
(c) Q has only one real eigen value if θ 6= 0, π

15. Let A be an invertible tensor which depends upon a real parameter, t.

Assuming that dA
dt
exists, prove that
 
d(det(A)) dA −1
= det(A)tr A
dt dt

16. Let φ(A) = det(A) and A be an invertible tensor. Then, show that
∂φ
∂A
= I3 A−1

2
17. Let φ, u and T be differentiable scalar, vector and tensor fields. Using
index notation verify the following for Cartesian coordinate system:

(a) grad(φu) = u ⊗ grad(φ) + φgrad(u)

 
(b) div uφ = φ1 div(u) − φ12 u · grad(φ)
(c) div(φT) = Tt grad(φ) + φdiv(T)
(d) curl(grad(φ)) = o
(e) grad(u · u) = 2grad(u)t u
(f) div(Tt u) = T · grad(u) + u · div(T)

18. If A is an invertible tensor, then it can be decomposed uniquely as A

= RU = VR where R is an orthogonal tensor, and U, V are positive
definite symmetric tensors. Then, show that AAt = V2 and At A =
U2 . Using these results prove that the eigenvalues of At A and AAt are
the same and that their eigenvectors are related as: pi = Rqi , where
pi are the eigenvectors of AAt and qi are the eigenvectors of At A.

19. The matrix components of a tensor A when represented using Cartesian

coordinate basis are  
1 1 1
A = 1 1 1 .
1 1 1
For this tensor find the following:

(a) The spherical and deviatoric parts of A

(b) The eigenvalues of A
(c) The eigenvectors of A

20. Let a new right-handed Cartesian coordinate system be represented by

the set {ẽi } of basis vectors with transformation law ẽ2 = − sin(θ)e1 +
cos(θ)e2 , ẽ3 = e3 . The origin of the new coordinate system coincides
with the old origin.

(a) Find ẽ1 in terms of the old set {ei } of basis vectors
(b) Find the orthogonal matrix [Q]ij that expresses the directional
cosine of the new basis with respect to the old one

3
 (c) Express the vector u = −6e1 − 3e2 + e3 in terms of the new set
{ẽi } of basis vectors
(d) Express the position vector, r of an arbitrary point using both
{ei } and {ẽi } basis and establish the relationship between the
components of r represented using {ei } basis and {ẽi } basis.
21. For the following components of a second order tensor:
 
10 4 −6
T =  4 −6 8  ,
−6 8 14
relative to a Cartesian orthonormal basis, {ei }, determine
(a) The principal invariants
(b) The principal values, p1 , p2 , p3
(c) The orientation of the principal directions with respect to the
Cartesian basis, {e}
(d) The orientation of the orthonormal basis, {êi } with respect to the
basis, {ei }, so that the stress tensor has a matrix representation
of the form, T = diag[p1 , p2 , p3 ] when expressed with respect to
the {êi } basis
(e) The transformation matrix, [Q]ij which transforms the set of or-
thonormal basis {ei } to {êi }.
(f) The components
√ of the same tensor T with√ respect to a basis {ẽi }
when ẽ1 = ( 3e1 + e2 )/2, ẽ2 = (−e1 + 3e2 )/2, ẽ3 = e3 .
22. Let a tensor A be given by: A = α[1 − e1 ⊗ e1 ] + β[e1 ⊗ e2 + e2 ⊗ e1 ],
where α and β are scalars and e1 and e2 are orthogonal unit vectors.
(a) Show that the eigenvalues (λi ) of A are
r r
α α2 α α2
λ1 = α, λ2 = + + β 2 , λ3 = − + β 2,
2 4 2 4
(b) Derive and show that the associated normalized eigenvectors ni
are given by:
e1 + (λ2 /β)e2 e1 + (λ3 /β)e2
n1 = e3 , n2 = p , n3 = p .
1 + λ22 /β 2 1 + λ23 /β 2

4
23. Show that u∧v is the axial vector for v⊗u−u⊗v. Using this establish
the identity a ∧ (b ∧ c) = (b ⊗ c − c ⊗ b)a, ∀ a, b, c ∈ V. Use could
be made of the identity [(u ∧ v) ∧ u] · v = (u ∧ v) · (u ∧ v).

24. Let R be a regular region and T a tensor field which is continuous in

R and continuously differentiable in the interior of R. Show that,
Z Z
t
x ∧ T nda = (x ∧ div(T) − τ )dv,
∂R R

where x is the position of a representative point of R and τ is the axial

vector of T − Tt . (Hint: Make use of the identity obtained in problem
23.)

25. Let (r, θ, φ) denote the spherical coordinates of a typical point related
to the Cartesian coordinates (x, y, z) through x = r cos(θ) cos(φ), y
= r cos(θ) sin(φ), z = r sin(θ). Then express the spherical coordinate
basis in terms of the Cartesian basis and show that
∂α 1 ∂α 1 ∂α
grad(α) = er + eθ + eφ ,
∂r r ∂θ r cos(θ) ∂φ
 ∂vr 1 ∂vr vθ 1 ∂vr vφ 
∂r r ∂θ
− r r cos(θ) ∂φ
− r
 ∂v 1 ∂v v 1 ∂vθ vφ
grad(v) =  ∂rθ r ∂θθ + rr r cos(θ) ∂φ
− r
tan(θ) ,

∂vφ 1 ∂vφ 1 ∂vφ vr vθ
∂r r ∂θ r cos(θ) ∂φ
+ r − r tan(θ)

div(T) =
∂Tφr
+ 1r ∂T∂θθr + r cos(θ)
 ∂Trr 1


 ∂r ∂φ
+ 1r [2Trr − Tθθ − Tφφ ] 

∂Trθ 1 ∂Tθθ 1 ∂Tφθ 1
∂r
+ r ∂θ + r cos(θ) ∂φ + r [2Trθ + Tθr + (Tθθ − Tφφ ) tan(θ)] ,
 ∂Trφ 1 ∂Tθφ
 1 ∂Tφφ 
+ r ∂θ + r cos(θ) + 1r [2Trφ + Tφr + (Tφθ + Tθφ ) tan(θ)]

∂r ∂φ

where α is a scalar field, v is a vector field represented in spherical

coordinates and T is a tensor field also represented using spherical
coordinate basis vectors.