Deformation is the change in the metric properties of a continuous body, meaning that a curve drawn in the initial body placement changes its length when displaced to a curve in the final placement. If none of the curves changes length, it is said that a
rigid body displacement occurred. It is convenient to identify a reference configuration or initial geometric state of the continuum body which all subsequent configurations are referenced from. The reference configuration need not be one the body actually will ever occupy. Often, the configuration at is considered the reference configuration, . The configuration at the current time is the
current configuration. For deformation analysis, the reference configuration is identified as
undeformed configuration, and the current configuration as
deformed configuration. Additionally, time is not considered when analyzing deformation, thus the sequence of configurations between the undeformed and deformed configurations are of no interest. The components of the position vector of a particle in the reference configuration, taken with respect to the reference coordinate system, are called the
material or reference coordinates. On the other hand, the components of the position vector of a particle in the deformed configuration, taken with respect to the spatial coordinate system of reference, are called the
spatial coordinates There are two methods for analysing the deformation of a continuum. One description is made in terms of the material or referential coordinates, called
material description or Lagrangian description. A second description of deformation is made in terms of the spatial coordinates it is called the
spatial description or Eulerian description. There is continuity during deformation of a continuum body in the sense that: • The material points forming a closed curve at any instant will always form a closed curve at any subsequent time. • The material points forming a closed surface at any instant will always form a closed surface at any subsequent time and the matter within the closed surface will always remain within.
Affine deformation An
affine deformation is a deformation that can be completely described by an
affine transformation. Such a transformation is composed of a
linear transformation (such as rotation, shear, extension and compression) and a rigid body translation. Affine deformations are also called
homogeneous deformations. Therefore, an affine deformation has the form \mathbf{x}(\mathbf{X},t) = \boldsymbol{F}(t) \cdot \mathbf{X} + \mathbf{c}(t) where is the position of a point in the deformed configuration, is the position in a reference configuration, is a time-like parameter, is the linear transformer and is the translation. In matrix form, where the components are with respect to an orthonormal basis, \begin{bmatrix} x_1(X_1, X_2, X_3, t) \\ x_2(X_1, X_2, X_3, t) \\ x_3(X_1, X_2, X_3, t) \end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix} F_{11}(t) & F_{12}(t) & F_{13}(t) \\ F_{21}(t) & F_{22}(t) & F_{23}(t) \\ F_{31}(t) & F_{32}(t) & F_{33}(t) \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} X_1 \\ X_2 \\ X_3 \end{bmatrix} + \begin{bmatrix} c_1(t) \\ c_2(t) \\ c_3(t) \end{bmatrix} The above deformation becomes
non-affine or
inhomogeneous if or .
Rigid body motion A rigid body motion is a special affine deformation that does not involve any shear, extension or compression. The transformation matrix is
proper orthogonal in order to allow rotations but no
reflections. A rigid body motion can be described by \mathbf{x}(\mathbf{X},t) = \boldsymbol{Q}(t)\cdot\mathbf{X} + \mathbf{c}(t) where \boldsymbol{Q}\cdot\boldsymbol{Q}^T = \boldsymbol{Q}^T \cdot \boldsymbol{Q} = \boldsymbol{\mathit{1}} In matrix form, \begin{bmatrix} x_1(X_1, X_2, X_3, t) \\ x_2(X_1, X_2, X_3, t) \\ x_3(X_1, X_2, X_3, t) \end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix} Q_{11}(t) & Q_{12}(t) & Q_{13}(t) \\ Q_{21}(t) & Q_{22}(t) & Q_{23}(t) \\ Q_{31}(t) & Q_{32}(t) & Q_{33}(t) \end{bmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} X_1 \\ X_2 \\ X_3 \end{bmatrix} + \begin{bmatrix} c_1(t) \\ c_2(t) \\ c_3(t) \end{bmatrix} ==Background: displacement==