Finite Bending of a Rectangular Block of an Elastic Hencky Material

Hencky's elasticity model is an isotropic, finite hyperelastic equation obtained by simply replacing the Cauchy stress tensor and the infinitesimal strain tensor in the classical Hooke's law for isotropic infinitesimal elasticity with the Kirchhoff stress tensor and Hencky's logarithmic strain tensor. A study by Anand in 1979 and 1986 indicates that it is a realistic finite elasticity model that is in good accord with experimental data for a variety of engineering materials for moderate deformations. Most recently, by virtue of well-founded physical grounds and rigorous mathematical procedures it has been demonstrated by these authors that this model may be essential to achieving self-consistent Eulerian rate type theories of finite inelasticity, e.g., the J ₂-flow theory for metal plasticity, etc. Its predictions have been studied for some typical deformation modes, including extension, simple shear and torsion, etc. Here we are concerned with finite bending of a rectangular block. We show that a closed-form solution may be obtained. We present explicit expressions for the bending angle and the bending moment in terms of the maximum or minimum circumferential stretch in a general case of compressible deformations for any assigned stretch normal to the bending plane. In particular, simplified results are derived for the plane strain case and for the case of incompressibility. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.