Configurational Forces: Thermomechanics, Physics, Mathematics, and Numerics

Exploring recent developments in continuum mechanics, Configurational Forces: Thermomechanics, Physics, Mathematics, and Numerics presents the general framework for configurational forces. It also covers a range of applications in engineering and condensed matter physics.

The author presents the fundamentals of accepted standard continuum mechanics, before introducing Eshelby material stress, field theory, variational formulations, Noether’s theorem, and the resulting conservation laws. In the chapter on complex continua, he compares the classical perspective of B.D. Coleman and W. Noll with the viewpoint linked to abstract field theory. He then describes the important notion of local structural rearrangement and its relationship to Eshelby stress. After looking at the relevance of Eshelby stress in the thermodynamic description of singular interfaces, the text focuses on fracture problems, microstructured media, systems with mass exchanges, and electromagnetic deformable media. The concluding chapters discuss the exploitation of the canonical conservation law of momentum in nonlinear wave propagation, the application of canonical-momentum conservation law and material force in numerical schemes, and similarities of fluid mechanics and aerodynamics.

Written by a long-time researcher in mechanical engineering, this book provides a detailed treatment of the theory of configurational forces―one of the latest and most fruitful advances in macroscopic field theories. Through many applications, it shows the depth and efficiency of this theory.

Gérard A. Maugin is a distinguished professor and research director of the Institut Jean Le Rond d’Alembert at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie and CNRS. He has taught at numerous universities around the world and has been involved in research projects with organizations such as the French Ministry of National Defense, US National Science Foundation, US Army Research Office, US Office of Naval Research, National Research Council of Canada, NATO, the European Community, and I.A.E.A-UNESCO. A member of many scientific societies, Dr. Maugin has received several awards throughout his career, including the Max Planck Research Award for Engineering Sciences given by the Max Planck Society and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.