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Transversely isotropic parametrizations

A transversely isotropic tensor with major symmetry has five degrees of freedom. Which five numbers one uses is a matter of discipline, not of mathematics, and TensND supports three conventions. All of them build a TensTI{4,T,5} and all are interconvertible through the Walpole coefficients of The Walpole basis.

Every matrix below is the Kelvin–Mandel matrix in the frame where  , with the ordering and factors of Kelvin–Mandel representation.

Summary

ConstructorExtractorParametersBuilds a
tens_TIarg_TIstiffness or compliance
tens_TI_engarg_TI_engcompliance
tens_TI_Hoenigarg_TI_Hoenigcompliance

To obtain a stiffness from either compliance form, invert: inv(tens_TI_eng(…)). Inversion is exact and stays in the class, by the synthetic rule of The Walpole basis.

Component form

The five independent components of a minor- and major-symmetric TI tensor:

The entry is not independent: in-plane isotropy forces    , which is what reduces nine orthotropic constants to five.

Relation to the Walpole coefficients

Inverted:

These are exactly _build_TI_KM and its inverse, exported as KM_from_ti_params and ti_params_from_KM.

Engineering form

The convention of composite mechanics, for the compliance:

  • — transverse Young's modulus, in the isotropy plane;

  • — axial Young's modulus, along ;

  • — in-plane Poisson's ratio;

  • — axial–transverse Poisson's ratio, with the reciprocity  ;

  • — axial shear modulus.

The entry encodes the in-plane shear modulus   , which is determined by and — the isotropy of the transverse plane again.

Kelvin–Mandel, not Voigt

The shear entries read and  , where an engineering (Voigt) compliance matrix would show and  . The factor two is the Kelvin–Mandel convention, and it is what keeps   an ordinary matrix inverse.

Hoenig form

A dimensionless parametrization introduced for crack problems in an anisotropic medium [8], convenient when anisotropy ratios matter independently of the overall stiffness scale:

ParameterDefinition
transverse Young's modulus,
in-plane Poisson's ratio,   
axial–transverse Poisson's ratio,   
axial-to-transverse modulus ratio,  
shear anisotropy parameter,   

so that the compliance components are

Isotropy is the point    with  : measures the departure of the axial stiffness from the transverse one, and that of the axial shear modulus from the in-plane one. The same author's companion paper [9] applies the parametrization to the effective moduli of a non-randomly cracked body.

Choosing between them

UseForm
a stiffness known by its components, or symbolic worktens_TI
material data sheets, compositestens_TI_eng
anisotropy ratios, crack and inclusion problemstens_TI_Hoenig

Conversion between any two is a round trip through the tensor itself: build with one constructor, extract with another extractor. Since all three produce the same TensTI{4,T,5}, the conversion is exact rather than fitted — unlike the projection of a general tensor onto the class, which is the subject of Projection onto a symmetry class.