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Configurational Mechanics

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Continuum Mechanics Through the Twentieth Century

Part of the book series: Solid Mechanics and Its Applications ((SMIA,volume 196))

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Abstract

Starting with pioneering works by Peach, Koehler and Eshelby, an original branch of continuum physics has developed in the period 1950—2010 that consists in providing means of evaluating the evolution of particular material zones of bodies under the action of external loadings. These zones are essentially more or less localized regions of the bodies in which irreversible changes of properties occur through a reorganization of material components of which fracture is the most drastic form. This is interpreted as changes of local configuration in the accepted view of the continuum mechanics of deformable solids. The present conspectus reviews the formidable progress achieved in this “configurational mechanics” from an historical and somewhat personal perspective. In this general view phenomena such as fracture, phase transformations, the presence of material heterogeneities, and more generally the expansion of structural defects of different types find a natural unified frame work. Here the emphasis is placed on the original works, the various breakthroughs and their contributors, the connection with the notion of “material” force, the modern —but often unfamiliar —concept of mechanics on the material manifold, a strategy of post-processing to evaluate driving forces or to improve numerical schemes, and a methodology imported from mathematical physics. Unavoidable ingredients are those of Eshelby stress tensor, material momentum in dynamics, and material forces of inhomogeneity.

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  1. Institut Jean Le Rond d’Alembert, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Place Jussieu 4, 75252, Paris Cedex 05, France

    Gérard A. Maugin

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Maugin, G.A. (2013). Configurational Mechanics. In: Continuum Mechanics Through the Twentieth Century. Solid Mechanics and Its Applications, vol 196. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6353-1_14

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