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Variational Principles of Continuum Mechanics

I. Fundamentals

  • Book
  • © 2009

Overview

  • Concise and understandable book about variational principles of continuum mechanics
  • Accessible to applied mathematicians, physicists and engineers who have an interest in continuum mechanics
  • Interesting innovative textbook for graduate students
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Interaction of Mechanics and Mathematics (IMM)

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Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Fundamentals

  2. Variational Features of Classical Continuum Models

  3. Variational features of classical continuum models

Keywords

About this book

Thereareabout500booksonvariationalprinciples. Theyareconcernedmostlywith the mathematical aspects of the topic. The major goal of this book is to discuss the physical origin of the variational principles and the intrinsic interrelations between them. For example, the Gibbs principles appear not as the rst principles of the theory of thermodynamic equilibrium but as a consequence of the Einstein formula for thermodynamic uctuations. The mathematical issues are considered as long as they shed light on the physical outcomes and/or provide a useful technique for direct study of variational problems. Thebookisacompletelyrewrittenversionoftheauthor’smonographVariational Principles of Continuum Mechanics which appeared in Russian in 1983. I have been postponing the English translation because I wished to include the variational pr- ciples of irreversible processes in the new edition. Reaching an understanding of this subject took longer than I expected. In its nal form, this book covers all aspects of the story. The part concerned with irreversible processes is tiny, but it determines the accents put on all the results presented. The other new issues included in the book are: entropy of microstructure, variational principles of vortex line dynamics, va- ational principles and integration in functional spaces, some stochastic variational problems, variational principle for probability densities of local elds in composites with random structure, variational theory of turbulence; these topics have not been covered previously in monographic literature.

Reviews

From the reviews:

“This new book goes far beyond anything currently available concerning variational principles in continuum mechanics. … We have at hand a monument that all students and professionals in applied mathematics physics and engineering will praise and naturally keep handy on their bookshelf. Teachers will find in the book a wealth of pedagogical material for many one semester courses. They and their students will appreciate the clarity simplicity and ingenuity of many arguments offered without pedantry and sacrifice of rigour.” (Gerard A. Maugin, Mathematical Reviews, Issue 2011 a)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Mechanical Engineering Dept., Wayne State University, Detroit, U.S.A.

    Victor Berdichevsky

Bibliographic Information

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