Tensor Components of Infinitesimal Strain, I

Abstract

In the last chapter we got used to writing down displacement gradients over infinitesimally short distances, and this puts us in a good position to consider the state of strain at a point. By “state of strain at a point” we mean a complete description of the strain components (e and 7, for example) for lines of all possible orientations at a point. We are still thinking about lines of particles, as in previous examples of homogeneous deformations of large regions, but now the lines are conceived of as infinitesimally short, and the region of space occupied by them is infinitesimally small.