Coordinate-free compatibility conditions for deformations of material surfaces

Abstract

The study of material surfaces uses notions from classical differential geometry, such as the covariant gradient, the mean and Gaussian curvatures, and the Peterson–Mainardi–Codazzi and Gauss equations. These notions are traditionally introduced relative to local surface coordinates and involve Christoffel symbols. We proceed instead without recourse to coordinates using direct notation. After developing the formula for the covariant gradient relative to a surface metric, we derive versions of the Peterson–Mainardi–Codazzi and Gauss equations and Gauss’ Theorema Egregium relevant to a deformed material surface. We then apply our framework to kinematically constrained material surfaces. For material surfaces that can sustain only deformations that preserve either angles or lengths, we obtain explicit representations for the covariant gradient relative to the surface metric in terms of the surface gradient. We show also that a deformation of a material surface that preserves angles and areas must be length preserving and vice versa. Finally, we present an alternative derivation of the Peterson–Mainardi–Codazzi and Gauss equations for a deformed material surface subject to the provision that the surface metric derives from the metric for the ambient Euclidean space within which the surface is embedded. An Appendix involving coordinates is included to ease comparisons between our approach to covariant differentiation and associated derivations of the Peterson–Mainardi–Codazzi and Gauss equations and standard coordinate-based approaches.