Orthotropic elasticity in 3D:

In three dimensions the stress-strain relations are expressed as σ = cǫ, which, expanded into components,
is
    
σx c11 c12 c13 c14 c15 c16 ǫx
 σy  c21 c22 c23 c24 c25 c26   ǫy 
    
 σz  c31 c32 c33 c34 c35 c36 
  ǫy  .
 
 = (1)
τxy  c41 c42 c43 c44 c45 c46  
γxy 
 
  
τxz  c51 c52 c53 c54 c55 c56   γxz 
τyz c61 c62 c63 c64 c65 c66 γyz

To move from stresses to strains, the relationship can be written as ǫ = dσ with d = c−1 the inverse of
the constitutive matrix c. In isotropic elasticity, there are three elastic constants, E, ν, and G, the elastic
modulus, Poisson’s ratio, and shear modulus of which two are independent. The components of d are given
by
1
d11 = d22 = d33 = (2)
E
ν
d12 = d13 = d23 = d21 = d31 = d32 = − (3)
E
1
d44 = d55 = d66 = . (4)
G
Orthotropic materials have 3 planes of material symmetry, and 9 independent elastic constants. These
correspond to elastic moduli in each of the three principal material directions, three Poisson’s ratios that
represent the coupling between axial and transverse strains, and three shear moduli that represent the
relationship between the three modes of shear stress and strain. These elastic constants are arranged in the
d matrix as follows
ν
   1 − Eyxy − νEzxz 0 0 0  

ǫx Ex
ν 1 ν
σx
 ǫy   − Exyx Ey − Ezyz 0 0 0  σy 
   νxz νyz 1
0 0 0  

 ǫz   − Ex − Ey Ez   σz 
 = 1   . (5)
γxy   0 0 0 0 0  τxy 
   Gxy 
γxz   0

0 0 0 1
0  τxz 

Gxz
γyz 0 0 0 0 0 1 τyz
Gyz

These twelve elastic constants are subject to constraints because the constitutive matrix must be symmetric
if the strain energy density is to exist and properly relate the stresses and strains. The constraints are
νxy Ey = νyx Ex , νxz Ez = νzx Ex and νyz Ez = νzy Ey . Note that when the coordinate system in which the
stress and strain are represented coincides with the coordinate system in which the constitutive matrix is
represented, the shear and axial components of stress and strain are decoupled. When these coordinate
systems do not coincide, however, shear and axial components do not remain uncoupled, and axial stress
can lead to shear strain.

Example Exercise: Consider an orthotropic material with elastic constitutive matrix of Eq. 5 whose con-
stitutive matrix is expressed in the coordinate system (x, y, z). A coordinate system (x′ , y ′ , z ′ ) is oriented
such that the angle from x to x′ is π/4, and the z and z ′ axes are coincident. The state of stress in the
(x′ , y ′ , z ′ ) coordinate system is σx′ = σ0 with all other stress components zero. Find the strains in the
(x, y, z) and (x′ , y ′ , z ′ ) coordinate systems, express an effective elastic modulus Ex′ = σx′ /ǫx′ and comment
on your results.

Solution: This can be treated as a 2D problem. The transformed stresses, using θ = −π/4 are σx = σ0 /2,
σy = σ0 /2 and τxy = σ0 /2 with all other components equal to zero. The strains in the (x, y, z) coordinate
σ0 νyx σ0 σ0 νyx σ0 σ0
system are ǫx = 2E x
− 2E y
, ǫy = 2E y
− 2E y
and γxy = 2G xy
.
To get the strains in the (x′ , y′ , z ′ ) coordinate system,  we can use the 2D transformation  equations with
σ0 1 2νyx 1 1 σ0 1 2νyx 1 1
θ = π/4. These are ǫx′ = 4 Ex − Ey + Ey + Gxy , ǫy′ = 4 Ex − Ey + Ey − Gxy and γx′ y′ =
 
σ0 1 1
2 Ey − Ex . Note here that if Ex = Ey the shearing strain becomes zero and the axial and shear behavior
is decoupled.
4E Ey Gxy
These strains lead to the effective modulus Ex′ = σǫ x′′ = Ey Gxy −2νyx ExxGxy +Ex Gxy +Ex Ey . This reduces to
x
Ex′ = E if Ex = Ey = E, νxy = ν, and Gxy = E/(2(1 + ν)), that is, we recover the isotropic case with the
appropriate material property substitutions.