An illustration of the equivalence of the loss of ellipticity conditions in spatial and material settings of hyperelasticity

The loss of ellipticity indicated through the rank-one-convexity condition is elaborated for the spatial and material motion problem of continuum mechanics. While the spatial motion problem is characterized through the classical equilibrium equations parametrised in terms of the deformation gradient, the material motion problem is driven by the inverse deformation gradient. As such, it deals with material forces of configurational mechanics that are energetically conjugated to variations of material placements at fixed spatial points. The duality between the two problems is highlighted in terms of balance laws, linearizations including the consistent tangent operators, and the acoustic tensors. Issues of rank-one-convexity are discussed in both settings. In particular, it is demonstrated that if the rank-one-convexity condition is violated, the loss of well-posedness of the governing equations occurs simultaneously in the spatial and in the material motion context. Thus, the material motion problem, i.e. the configurational force balance, does not lead to additional requirements to ensure ellipticity. This duality of the spatial and the material motion approach is illustrated for the hyperelastic case in general and exemplified analytically and numerically for a hyperelastic material of Neo-Hookean type. Special emphasis is dedicated to the geometrical representation of the ellipticity condition in both settings.