Abstract
If rigid body displacements are properly separated from a finite-displacement small-strain problem, the remaining deformation is within the scope of the small displacement theory. For this purpose, the rigid body displacement of each sufficiently small subdomain of an elastic body must be removed independently from other subdomains before the actual deformation occurs. This paper presents a rigorous and straightforward theoretical formulation for a numerical solution procedure based on this concept. The simplicity of the formulation is due to the fact that it is developed for a general three-dimensional solid rather than structural elements as in the past works.
