Search results for "generalized continua"

An energy residual-based approach to gradient effects within the mechanics of generalized continua

2012

AbstractGeneralized continua exhibiting gradient effects are addressed through a method grounded on the energy residual (ER)-based gradient theory by the first author and coworkers. A main tool of this theory is the Clausius-Duhem inequality cast in a form differing from the classical one only by a nonstandard extra term, the (nonlocality) ER, required to satisfy the insulation condition (its global value has to vanish or to take a known value). The ER carries in the nonlocality features of the mechanical problem through a strain-like rate field, being the specific nonlocality source, and a concomitant higher-order long-range stress (or microstress) field. The thermodynamic restrictions on …