The disturbed state concept (DSC) is a unified, constitutive modelling approach for engineering materials that allows for elastic, plastic, and creep strains, microcracking and fracturing, stiffening or healing, all within a single, hierarchical framework. Its capabilities go well beyond other available material models yet lead to significant simpl

The category of problems which examines the mechanical behaviour of contact regions constitutes an important branch of applied mechanics with extensive engineering applications. The results of such research can be applied to the study of mechanics of composite materials, tribology, soil-foundation interaction, mechanics of rock interfaces, modelling of damage phenomena and micro-mechanics. In classical studies, the modelling of interface responses has focussed on purely idealized forms of interface phenomena which range from frictionless contact to bonded contact, with Coulomb friction or finite friction occupying an intermediate position. Current research has attempted to improve such modelling by endowing the interface with its own characteristic constitutive responses. This research indicates the significant manner in which non linear, frictional, dilatant, hardening and softening interface constitutive responses can influence the global and local interface responses of engineering interest. The technical sessions held in New Mexico (sponsored by the Elasticity Committee of the Engineering Mechanics Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers) brought together new advances in the theoretical formulation, analysis and the application of material interface modelling to problems of engineering interest. This book contains the papers presented plus invited contributions from leading researchers.

Modern computer simulations make stress analysis easy. As they continue to replace classical mathematical methods of analysis, these software programs require users to have a solid understanding of the fundamental principles on which they are based.Develop Intuitive Ability to Identify and Avoid Physically Meaningless PredictionsApplied Mechanics o

This book highlights some recent advances in interfacial research in the fields of fluid mechanics and materials science at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It is an extension of the presentations made during the conference “Interfaces for the 21st Century,” held on August 16-18, 1999, in Monterey, California. It includes papers by sixteen renowned experts in the field of interfacial mechanics, abstracts contributed by research scientists, and a summary of a panel discussion on future research directions. The book covers experimental and theoretical approaches, with the unifying philosophy being the investigation of new techniques for modeling the dynamics of interfaces. A number of new and exciting solution methods and experimental studies, as well as the physical problems that initiated them, are presented.

The growing occurrence of heterogeneous materials such as composites or coated substrates in structural parts makes it necessary for designers and scientists to deal with the specific features of the mechanical behavior of solid interfaces. This book introduces basic concepts on mechanical problems related to the presence of solid/solid interfaces and their practical applications. The various topics discussed here are the mechanical characterization of interfaces, the initiation and growth of cracks along interfaces, the origin and control of interface adhesion, focusing in particular on thin films on substrate systems. It is designed and structured to provide a solid background in the mechanics of heterogeneous materials to help students in materials science, as well as scientists and engineers.