On the incompressible behavior in weakly nonlinear elasticity

Abstract This article considers the influence of incompressibility on the compliance and stiffness constants that appear in the weakly nonlinear theory of elasticity. The formulation first considers the incompressibility constraint applied to compliances, which gives explicit finite limits for the second-, third-, and fourth-order compliance constants. The stiffness/compliance relationships for each order are derived and used to determine the incompressible behavior of the second-, third-, and fourth-order stiffness constants. Unlike the compressible case, the fourth-order compliances are not found to be dependent on the fourth-order stiffnesses.