Lateral strain of uniaxially tensioned membrane

[s0094260]

Hi,

Does anyone know what is the calculation method for lateral strain profile of a uniaxially tensioned membrane? The constraints are; two end edges where the tension forces are applied, are laterally restrained for any displacement. i.e. the lateral strains due to the possion ratio are restricted at the restrained edges.

 

[FEA way]

Which software do you use ? In general there are two ways to calculate lateral (transverse) strain in FEA:

a) use predefined variable - all FEA programs have strain tensor components available for postprocessing, just choose the right one (normal strain in lateral direction, for example epsilon_XX). You can either make a contour plot of it or probe its value in selected point. In your case the latter should be enough. You can plot it vs load increment. Just remember to choose some point in the middle between the supports so that they don't influence the result.

b) calculate lateral strain manually - measure displacement of selected point (as described above) in proper direction and then divide it by original dimension.