Superimposed Rigid Body Motions and Objectivity

Consider Q  t  such that Q  Q and Q  Q  Q  Q  1 . Given F , such that

T 1 T T

dxt  Q  dxt  Q  F  dx0  F  dx0  xt  xt (1)

if satisfied indicates that dx is said to be objective with respect to Q . It can be shown that any vector
a is objective with respect to Q since a  Q  a  a  a . In general, material time derivatives of
quantities need to be checked for objectivity. For example, while the displacement vector u may be
objective since u  Q  u , the velocity vector v  u is not objective since v  Q  v

d
v u
dt
d
 Q  u  (2)
dt
 Q u  Q u
 Q u  Q  v

It can be shown that the following tensors are all unaltered by rigid body motions

1  Q  1  QT  Q  QT  1 (3)

C  FT  F
  F T  QT   Q  F 
(4)
 F T   QT  Q   F
 FT  F

And, by virtue of (3) and (4), the Lagrangian strain E is also unaltered by a rigid body motion . However,
it can be shown that the Left Deformation Tensor b

b  F  FT
  Q  F    FT  QT  (5)

 Q  b  QT

, while objective is altered by rigid body motions. As a result of (5), the Eulerian strain E* while
objective, is also altered by a rigid body motion. It can be shown that the velocity gradient L is non-
objective since:
 L  F  F 1
 
 Q  F  Q  F   F 1  Q 1 
(6)
 Q  F  Q  L  F   F 1
Q T

 Q  QT  Q  L  QT

However, the rate of deformation tensor can be shown to be objective

D 1
2 L  L  T

 1
2 Q  Q T
 
 Q  L  QT  12 Q  QT  Q  LT  QT  (7)

 1
2 Q  Q T
 Q  QT   Q  L  L   Q
1
2
T T

Since

Q  QT  1; Q  QT  Q  QT  0 (8)

, and thus

D  Q  D  QT (9)