ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the fundamental principles of anisotropic elasticity. Much of the presentation on anisotropic elasticity is based on the works of S. G. Lekhnitskii and R. F. S. Hearmon. A detailed derivation of the theory of finite deformations can be found in Y. C. Fung. The chapter shows the stress nomenclature in cartesian coordinates. In linear mechanics little or no distinction is made between the stresses with respect to the deformed and undeformed coordinates since the difference is a second order effect. However in the development of a plate theory which includes inplane force effects it is useful to relate stresses on the deformed body to the initial configuration. In order to determine the principal stresses in a plate it is often necessary to consider the stresses with respect to an axis system rotated in the plane of the plate. The chapter considers the case of a material with three mutually perpendicular planes of elastic symmetry.
