International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics 41 (2006) 141 – 145

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The relation between the Valanis–Landel and classical

strain-energy functions
Ronald S. Rivlin
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-4040, USA

Received 20 May 2005; accepted 23 May 2005

Abstract
Necessary and sufficient conditions are derived for the strain-energy function of an isotropic elastic solid, regarded as a
function of the strain invariants, to be expressible in the Valanis–Landel form, both when the material is compressible and
when it is incompressible. In the case when the Valanis–Landel strain-energy function is a polynomial in squares of the
principal extension ratios, explicit representations as polynomials in the basic isotropic strain invariants are obtained.
䉷 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Finite elasticity; Isotropic; Strain-energy; Valanis–Landel

1. Introduction where C1 , C2 , C3 are positive constants. However,

In the continuum mechanics of an isotropic elastic
solid, the material is characterized by a strain-energy
function W that, for isothermal deformations, is a
function of the three basic strain invariants, I1 , I2 , I3 ,
defined in terms of the principal extension ratios,

1 ,
2 ,
3 , by Eq. (3). For an incompressible solid,
I3 = 1 and W is a function of I1 and I2 only.
Rivlin and Saunders [1] conducted a series of ex-
periments in which a thin sheet of natural rubber
vulcanizate was subjected to a pure homogeneous
deformation and, adopting the idealization of incom-
pressibility, concluded that they could be character-
ized by a strain-energy function of the form
W = C1 (I1 − 3) + C2 (I2 − 3) − C3 (I2 − 3)2 ,
the values of I1 and I2 in these experiments were
fairly large. Other experiments involving smaller val-
ues of I1 and I2 imply departures from this form
for W .
Valanis and Landel [2] proposed a strain-energy
function of the form (4) and adduced some evidence
that a natural rubber vulcanizate could be character-
ized by a strain-energy function of this form. The ex-
periments of Obata et al. [3] and Jones and Treloar [4]
appeared to validate this proposal. Sawyers and Rivlin
[5] pointed out that the strain-energy function (1) can
be rewritten in this form.
Sawyers and Rivlin [5] and Sawyers [6] also
showed that any isotropic strain-energy function of
the Valanis–Landel type can be expressed in classical
(1) form, i.e. as a function of I1 , I2 , I3 , if the material

0020-7462/$ - see front matter 䉷 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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142 R.S. Rivlin / International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics 41 (2006) 141 – 145

is compressible, and of I1 , I2 , if it is incompressible If the elastic solid is incompressible,
1
2
3 =1 and

(see Section 2). the strain-energy function depends on I1 and I2 only
In Section 3 necessary and sufficient conditions are
obtained for an isotropic strain-energy function of the W = W (I1 , I2 ). (8)
classical form to be expressible in the Valanis–Landel The Valanis–Landel strain-energy function (4) may
form, both in the case when the material modeled is then be written as
compressible and when it is incompressible. Then, in
Section 4, it is shown how any Valanis–Landel strain- W = w(
1 ) + w(
2 ) + w(1/
1
2 ). (9)
energy function, that is polynomial in the squares of
the principal extension ratios, can be expressed as a
polynomial in I1 , I2 , I3 , if the material modeled is 3. The condition for W to be expressible in the
compressible, and I1 , I2 , if it is incompressible. Valanis–Landel form

3.1. Compressible elastic solid

2. The strain-energy function
If the isotropic elastic solid is compressible, the nec-
We suppose that an isotropic elastic solid undergoes essary and sufficient condition for W to be expressible
a deformation in which the principal extension ratios in the Valanis–Landel form (4) is
are
1 ,
2 ,
3 . The strain-energy function for isother-
mal deformation of the material can be expressed as j2 W
=0 (
= ). (10)
a function of the
’s only of the form j
 j


W = W (I1 , I2 , I3 ), (2) With (3) this yields

where I1 , I2 , I3 are defined by j2 W
= 4

 (P +
2 Q +
4 R) = 0
I1 =
21 +
22 +
23 , I2 =
22
23 +
23
21 +
21
22 , j
 j

 = 123, 231, 312, (11)
I3 =
21
22
23 . (3)
where
We call a strain-energy function of this form the classi-
cal strain-energy function for an isotropic elastic solid.

3
j2 W j2 W jW
P= I + + ,
Valanis and Landel [2] proposed a strain-energy jI2 jI jI12 jI2
=1
function of the form

3
j2 W j2 W jW
W = w(
1 ) + w(
2 ) + w(
3 ). (4) Q= I + + ,
jI3 jI jI1 jI2 jI3
=1

21 ,
22 ,
23 are the roots of the cubic equation in
2
j2 W j2 W
6 4 2

− I1
+ I2
− I3 = 0. (5) R= − . (12)
jI22 jI3 jI1
These are
We note from (12) that

2 = 13 {I1 + 2A cos 13 ( + 2)} ( = 1, 2, 3), (6)
jQ/jI2 − jP /jI3 = jR/jI1 . (13)
where
It follows from (11) that
A = (I12 − 3I2 )1/2 ,
1 P = 0, Q = 0, R = 0. (14)
 = cos−1 (2I 3 − 9I1 I2 + 27I3 ). (7)
2A3 1
These are necessary conditions for W (I1 , I2 , I3 ) to

1 ,
2 ,
3 are the positive square roots of
21 ,
22 ,
23 . By be expressible in the Valanis–Landel form. That they
substituting for
1 ,
2 ,
3 in (4), W can be expressed are also sufficient can be easily seen by reversing the
as a function of I1 , I2 , I3 [5,6]. argument.
 R.S. Rivlin / International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics 41 (2006) 141 – 145 143

3.2. Incompressible elastic solid We adopt the notation

In the case when the isotropic elastic solid is in- sr = x1r + x2r + · · · + xnr . (21)
compressible, it has been shown [5] that the necessary Newton’s formulas (see, for example, [7]) are the re-
and sufficient condition for W to be expressible in the lations
Valanis–Landel form (9) is s1 + p1 = 0,
j3 W j3 W s2 + p1 s1 + 2p2 = 0

1 =
2 . (15)
j
21 j
2 j
22 j
1 ,...,
sn + p1 sn−1 + p2 sn−2
With (8) and some lengthy calculations this can be
+ · · · + pn−1 s1 + np n = 0. (22)
rewritten as [5]
  From these, for any r
n, sr can be expressed, by
j j2 W j2 W iteration, as a polynomial in p1 , p2 , . . . , pn . If r > n,
S= + I1
jI1 jI12 jI1 jI2 the set of equations (22) is amplified by the equations
 
j j2 W j2 W sn+1 + p1 sn + · · · + pn s1 = 0,
+ + I2 = 0. (16)
jI2 jI22 jI1 jI2 sn+2 + p1 sn+1 + · · · + pn s2 = 0
,...,
This relation can also be derived from (14). From sr + p1 sr−1 + · · · + pn sr−n = 0. (23)
(12)1,3 and (12)2,3 we obtain, with I3 = 1,
We take n = 3 and replace x1 , x2 , x3 by
21 ,
22 ,
23 .
jP /jI1 = S, j2 Q/jI12 = jS/jI2 , (17) Then,
respectively. Then (16) follows from (14)1 and (17)1 . p1 = −I1 , p2 = I2 , p3 = −I3 . (24)
Relations (22) become
4. Polynomial strain-energy function s1 = I1 , s2 = I1 s1 − 2I2 ,
s3 = I1 s2 − I2 s1 + 3I3 (25)
We suppose now that in (4) w has the form
and relations (23) become
N


w(
 ) = Ar (
2r s4 = I1 s3 − I2 s2 + I3 s1 ,
 − 1), (18)
r=0 s5 = I1 s4 − I2 s3 + I3 s2 ,
...,
where the coefficients Ar are constants. Then
sr = I1 sr−1 − I2 sr−2 + I3 sr−3 . (26)
N


W= Ar (
2r From (25) we obtain
1 +
2 +
3 − 3).
2r 2r
(19)
r=0 s1 = I1 , s2 = I12 − 2I2 ,
For each value of r > 0,
2r s3 = I13 − 3I1 I2 + 3I3 . (27)
1 +
2 +
3 can be ex-
2r 2r

pressed as a polynomial in I1 , I2 , I3 by using New- Then Eqs. (26) yield

ton’s formulas.
These allow us to express the sum of the rth pow-
ers of x1 , x2 , . . . , xn as a polynomial in the elemen-
tary symmetric functions (−1)i pi (i = 1, . . . , n) of
x1 , x2 , . . . , xn . pi is the coefficient of x n−i in the ex-
pansion
(x − x1 )(x − x2 ) · · · (x − xn )
= x n + p1 x n−1 + · · · + pn .
s4 = I14 − 4I12 I2 + 4I1 I3 + 2I22 ,
s5 = I15 − 5I13 I2 + 5I12 I3 + 5I1 I22 − 5I2 I3 ,
s6 = I16 − 6I14 I2 + 6I13 I3 − 12I1 I2 I3 + 9I12 I22
− 2I23 + 3I32 . (28)
It can be easily verified, by substituting them for W,
(20) that each of expressions (27) and (28), and hence any
144 R.S. Rivlin / International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics 41 (2006) 141 – 145

linear combination of them, satisfies conditions (14). Then, by an argument analogous to that in Section 4
An explicit expression for sr , for r > 3, is given in the it follows that W can be expressed as a linear combi-
Appendix. nation of expressions s1 , s2 , . . . , sN , obtained by re-
If the elastic solid is incompressible, I3 = 1 and placing I1 , I2 , I3 by I 1 , I 2 , I 3 in (25)–(28). We note
relations (25) and (26) become that
s1 = I1 , s2 = I1 s1 − 2I2 ,
s3 = I1 s2 − I2 s1 + 3 (29) I 1 = I2 /I3 , I 2 = I1 /I3 , I 3 = 1/I3 . (36)
and
s4 = I1 s3 − I2 s2 + s1 , If the material is incompressible,
s5 = I1 s4 − I2 s3 + s2 ,
..., I 1 = I2 , I 2 = I1 , I 3 = 1. (37)
sr = I1 sr−1 − I2 sr−2 + sr−3 , (30)
respectively. Correspondingly, (27) and (28) become It follows that W can be expressed as a linear combi-
nation of expressions s1 , s2 , . . . , sN , obtained by in-
s1 = I1 , s2 = I12 − 2I2 , s3 = I13 − 3I1 I2 + 3
terchanging I1 and I2 in (29)–(32).
(31) It is evident that the results for the strain-energy
and functions (19) and (34) can be combined to obtain clas-
sical representations for Valanis–Landel strain-energy
s4 = I14 − 4I12 I2 + 4I1 + 2I22 , functions of the form
s5 = I15 − 5I13 I2 + 5I12 + 5I1 I22 − 5I2 ,
N


s6 = I16 − 6I14 I2 + 6I13 − 12I1 I2 + 9I12 I22 W= {Ar (
2r
1 +
2 +
3 − 3)
2r 2r

− 2I23 + 3, (32) r=0

respectively. It can easily be verified, by substituting + Br (
−2r

1 +
−2r
2 +
−2r
3 − 3)}. (38)
them for W , that each of expressions (31) and (32),
and hence any linear combination of them, satisfies If, for some reason, it is wished to make the con-
condition (16). stitutive assumption that w(
 ) in (4) is a polynomial
in
 , rather than
2 , or
−1 −2
 , rather than
 , results
analogous to those obtained above can be obtained by
5. Some corollaries
replacing I1 , I2 , I3 by i1 , i2 , i3 , defined by
We now suppose that w(
 ) is given by (cf. (18))
i1 =
1 +
2 +
3 ,
N

i2 =
2
3 +
3
1 +
1
2 ,
w(
 ) = Br (
−2r
 − 1), (33)
r=0 i3 =
1
2
3 . (39)
where the coefficients Br are constants. Then
N


W= Br (
−2r
1 +
−2r
2 +
−2r
3 − 3). (34) Appendix
r=0

We define I 1 , I 2 , I 3 by (cf. (3)) With r > 0, we can solve the r simultaneous equa-
tions (25) and (26) to obtain an explicit expression for
I 1 =
−2 −2 −2
1 +
2 +
3 , sr . We have
I 2 =
−2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2
2
3 +
3
1 +
1
2 ,
I 3 =
−2 −2 −2
1
2
3 . (35) sr = r /, (40)
 R.S. Rivlin / International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics 41 (2006) 141 – 145 145

where r and  are r × r determinants: References

 
 1 0 0 . . . 0 0 0 I1 
  [1] R.S. Rivlin, D.W. Saunders, Large elastic deformations of
 −I1 1 0 . . . 0 0 0 −2I2 
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 rubber, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London A 243 (1948) 251–288
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 . . . . . . . . . .  York, 1997).

 0 . . . 0  [2] K.C. Valanis, R.F. Landel, The strain-energy function of a
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0 0 0 . . . −I3 I2 −I1 0
natural rubber vulcanizates in finite deformation, J. Polymer
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 1 0 0 . . . 0 0 0 0 pure homogeneous strain, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 8 (1975)
 
 −I1 1 0 . . . 0 0 0 0 1285–1304.
 
 I2 −I1 1 . . . 0 0 0 0  [5] K.N. Sawyers, R.S. Rivlin, The strain-energy function for

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 0 . . . 0 
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0 0 0 . . . −I3 I2 −I1 1 [7] J.V. Uspensky, Theory of Equations, MacMillan, New York,
(42) 1948.