Nonlinear Continua : Fundaments for the Computational Techniques

This book develops a modern presentation of Continuum Mechanics, oriented towards numerical applications in the ?elds of nonlinear analysis of solids, structures and ?uids. Kinematics of the continuum deformation, including pull-back/push-forward transformations between di erent con?gurations; stress and strain measures; objective stress rate and strain rate measures; balance principles; constitutive relations, with emphasis on elasto-plasticity of metals and variational prin- ples are developed using general curvilinear coordinates. Being tensor analysis the indispensable tool for the development of the continuum theory in general coordinates, in the appendix an overview of t- soranalysisisalsopresented. Embedded in the theoretical presentation, application examples are dev- oped to deepen the understanding of the discussed concepts. Even though the mathematical presentation of the di erent topics is quite rigorous; an e ort is made to link formal developments with engineering ph- ical intuition. This book is based on two graduate courses that the authors teach at the Engineering School of the University of Buenos Aires and it is intended for graduate engineering students majoring in mechanics and for researchers in the ?elds of applied mechanics and numerical methods. VIII Preface I am grateful to Klaus-Jürgen Bathe for introducing me to Computational Mechanics, for his enthusiasm, for his encouragement to undertake challenges and for his friendship.