Elastic Deformation

We have the governing equations:

i
j
j
ij
f
x
=

=
2
1

Then we multiply test functions
1
w ,
2
w and integrate to obtain the weak
form:

=
d
x
w
d n w d w
x
j
i
ij j i ij
j i
i
j
ij

2
1 ,

After applying boundary conditions we have the following expression:

=
+ =

d w f d w h d
x
w
i
i i
i
i i
j
i
ij
2
1
2
1
1

Since the stress is symmetric we can write the stress term as the following
form
( )

T
j
i
ij
x
w
x
w
x
w
x
w
x
w
=
(
(
(

12
22
11
1
2
2
1
2
2
1
1

Then we use four points bilinear shape functions
( )( )
( )( )
( )( )
( )( )



+ =
+ + =
+ =
=
1 1
4
1
1 1
4
1
1 1
4
1
1 1
4
1
4
3
2
1
N
N
N
N

We have the following relation for one element:
e e
y
x
y
x
y
x
y
x
W N
w
w
w
w
w
w
w
w
N N N N
N N N N
w
w
=
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(

=
(

4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
4 3 2 1
4 3 2 1
2
1
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0

e e
y
x
y
x
y
x
y
x
x y x y x y x y
y y y y
x x x x
W B
w
w
w
w
w
w
w
w
N N N N N N N N
N N N N
N N N N
=
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(
(

(
(
(

=
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1
4 3 2 1
4 3 2 1
0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0

After using similar approach to force terms we have the equation for
elements:


+ = fd N hd N d B
T
e
T
e
T
e
1

Now we use constitutive equations ( ) u uI 2 + = div and let ( )
T
v u = u ,
x x =
1
, y x =
2
. Then we have
e e e
U B C
x
v
y
u
y
v
x
u
=
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

\
|

|
|
|

\
|
+
+
=
(
(
(

0 0
0 2
0 2
12
22
11

Where ( )
T
e
v u v u v u v u U
4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1
=
Therefore we obtain the final weak form:
( )


+ = fd N hd N U d B C B
T
e
T
e e e e
T
e
1

where

= d B C B K
e e
T
e e
is the element stiffness matrix.
We calculate the element matrix at different domain
( )


= =
1
1
1
1
det d d J B C B d B C B K
e e
T
e e e
T
e e

where
(

=


y x
y x
J ,

=
=
4
1 i
i i
x N x ,

=
=
4
1 i
i i
y N y .
We follow similar approach for the body force term.
( )



1
1
1
1
det d d J f N fd N
T
e
T
e

For the surface force term in our case ( [ ] 1 , 0 , 0 :
1
= = x y ) we have 1 =
for the boundary elements. Therefore

d y x d
y
x
dy
dx
x d d
2 2
+ =
(

=
(

= =
v

( ) ( )


+ = = =
1
1
2 2
1 1
1


d y x h N hd N
T
e
T
e


Now we can write the finite element code to solve this problem.



















Finite Element Results:
For this case we assume plane strain. Therefore the relations for Lames
constants are:
( )( )
( )

+
= =
+
=
1 2
2 1 1
E
G
E

where E is Youngs modulus, G is shear modulus and is Poissons
ratio. In the following we will choose several values of E and and b
(boundary load) and discuss the effects of these parameters.

(1) Standard case:

For general metal, we choose Youngs modulus =100 GPa, Poissons ratio
= 0.36, f = gravity = 9.8. The grid size is 40 40 . To check our numerical
solution, we use COMSOL to solve the same case and compare both
results for b = 10. We plot the deformation in x and y directions.

Our numerical solution


COMSOL


We can see our solution agrees with COMSOL result quantitatively.
Therefore we can use our code to analyze cases with different loads for b
= 0, 5, 8, 10. We plot the deformation in x and y directions.

b = 0


b = 6


b = 8


b = 10


b = 20


We can see the deformation changes with the load. When b = 6, the load
can overcome gravity and results in the upward deformation. Since the
load acts on the bottom line, the deformation at y = 0 (bottom) is greater
than y = 1/4 (top). The deformation in x direction is smaller than that in y
direction, which is related to Poissons ratio. The deformation is small (~
0.1 nm) compared to the bulk length scale (~ 1 m).


(2) Soft material
For soft material, the Youngs modulus is smaller. So I choose E = 100
MPa and Poissons ratio = 0.36. The results for different loads are as
following:

b = 6


b = 8


b = 10


From the results we can see the shape is similar to the first case, and the
only difference is the magnitude of deformation, which is about 1000
times the first case (~ order of ratio of Youngs modulus).

(3) Extreme case
From the definition we have restriction for Poissons ratio 5 . 0 0 < < .
Now we consider the extreme cases 0 and 5 . 0 for b = 8. Here
we also show the standard result 36 . 0 = .

01 . 0 =


36 . 0 =


49 . 0 =




We can see the behavior is similar except the magnitude of the
deformation. The deformation in y direction resulted from load decreases
with increasing Poissons ratio . This is because increases with and
as 5 . 0 , which reduces the normal strain. We can also see this
result in the following deformed shape plot. In order to observe the
deformation, we use large load
9
10 2 = b .




Based on the discussion, we have the following short summary:

1. The magnitude of load b influences the shape of deformation.

2. Lame constants are proportional to Youngs modulus, which can be
observed from the magnitude of deformation of cases (1) and (2).

3. Poissons ratio shows the relation between shear strain and normal
strain. Higher Poissons ratio will reduce the deformation along the
direction of load.