The elasticity tensor of a residually stressed material (Q1309791)

The author studied the properties of the elasticity tensors of a residually stressed material. Constitutive equations appropriate for the description of residually stressed materials have been derived by some researchers cited in the references of the present work under the assumption of small displacement gradients, and small strains with arbitrary rotations. In each of these cases the derivation is carried out by linearizing the finite elastic constitutive equations. This gives rise to elasticity tensor similar to those found in the classical linear elasticity. These elastic tensors are, however, fundamentally different from their counterpart in the classical theory, because they depend on the initial stress. In these works the origin of the residual stress has not been mentioned. This author focused on the properties of elasticity tensors, not on the residual stress itself. Assuming that the residual stress depends on the geometry as well as the intrinsic mechanical properties of the material, he showed that the elasticity tensor is inhomogeneous and is not positive definite. This work is very interesting and might be useful for those researchers working in the area of elastic bodies with residual stresses.