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I am trying to prove that:

If $S$ is a symmetric matrix, then one can rewrite $\int{S:\nabla \phi} \text{dx}$ as $\int{S:D(\phi)} \text{dx}$, where $D(\phi)$ is the symmetric gradient of $\phi$.

Any kind of hint will be helpful! (Question was to only rewrite the expression, however after looking through some other notes, I believe that putting a condition of $S$ being symmetric should be sufficient?)

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    $\begingroup$ What does the colon $:$ denote here $\endgroup$
    – SBF
    Commented Jan 11 at 14:40
  • $\begingroup$ @SBF the colon should denote the 'double contraction' of matrices $A:B = \sum_{i,j} A_{ij}B_{ij}$ $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 11 at 14:56

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I don't think this has anything to do with the integral. If $S=S^T$ then \begin{align} S : \nabla \phi = \sum_{i,j} S_{ij} \partial_j \phi_i &= \frac12\left(\sum_{i,j} S_{ij} \partial_j \phi_i + \sum_{i,j} S_{ij} \partial_j \phi_i\right) \\ &= \frac12 \left(\sum_{i,j} S_{ij} \partial_j \phi_i + \sum_{i,j} S_{\color{red}{ji}} \partial_j \phi_i\right)\\ &= \frac12 \left(\sum_{i,j} S_{ij} \partial_j \phi_i + \sum_{j',i'} S_{i',j'} \partial_{i'} \phi_{j'}\right) \\ &= \sum_{i,j}S_{ij} \frac12 \left( \partial_j \phi_i + \partial_i \phi_j \right)\\ &= S : D(\phi). \end{align} Or, if you prefer to see less indices, since $A^T:B = A:B^T$ \begin{align} S: \nabla \phi &= \frac12(S + S^T ): \nabla \phi \\ &= \frac12\left(S:\nabla \phi + S^T: \nabla \phi\right) \\ &= \frac12\left(S:\nabla \phi + S: \nabla \phi^T\right) \\ &= S : \frac12(\nabla \phi + \nabla\phi^T)\\ & = S:D(\phi). \end{align}

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for such a detailed answer! Could you explain what you did there with the renumbering ($i', j'$)? Also, I think you missed a transpose in the second last line in the first calculation. $\endgroup$
    – ali
    Commented Jan 12 at 15:55
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    $\begingroup$ That's just setting $i=j'$ and$j=i'$, so that it looks more like the first sum. And yeah a transpose is missing sorry $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 12 at 15:57

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