Elasticity

The subject of Elasticity can be approached from several points of view, - pending on whether the practitioner is principally interested in the mat- matical structure of the subject or in its use in engineering applications and, in the latter case, whether essentially numerical or analytical methods are envisaged as the solution method. My ?rst introduction to the subject was in response to a need for information about a speci?c problem in Tribology. As a practising Engineer with a background only in elementary Mechanics of - terials, I approached that problem initially using the concepts of concentrated forces and superposition. Today, with a rather more extensive knowledge of analytical techniques in Elasticity, I still ?nd it helpful to go back to these roots in the elementary theory and think through a problem physically as well as mathematically, whenever some new and unexpected feature presents di?culties in research. This way of thinking will be found to permeate this book. My engineering background will also reveal itself in a tendency to work examples through to ?nal expressions for stresses and displacements, rather than leave the derivation at a point where the remaining manipulations would be mathematically routine. The ?rst edition of this book, published in 1992, was based on a one semester graduate course on Linear Elasticity that I have taught at the U- versity of Michigan since 1983.

This is a first year graduate textbook in Linear Elasticity. It is written with the practical engineering reader in mind, dependence on previous knowledge of solid mechanics, continuum mechanics or mathematics being minimized. Emphasis is placed on engineering applications of elasticity and examples are generally worked through to final expressions for the stress and displacement fields in order to explore the engineering consequences of the results.

The topics covered are chosen with a view to modern research applications in fracture mechanics, composite materials, tribology and numerical methods. Thus, significant attention is given to crack and contact problems, problems involving interfaces between dissimilar media, thermoelasticity, singular asymptotic stress fields and three-dimensional problems.

This third edition includes new chapters on complex variable methods, variational methods and three-dimensional solutions for the prismatic bar. Other detailed changes have been made throughout the work, many suggested by users of earlier editions.

The new edition includes over 300 end-of-chapter problems, expressed wherever possible in the form they would arise in engineering - i.e. as a body of a given geometry subjected to prescribed loading - instead of inviting the student to 'verify' that a given candidate stress function is appropriate to the problem. Solution of these problems is considerably facilitated by the use of modern symbolic mathematical languages such as Maple and Mathematica. Electronic files and hints on this method of solution, as well as further supplementary software are available for download via the webpage for this volume on www.springer.com.