August 2004
Intermediate to advanced
480 pages
12h 35m
English
Similar to other field theories such as fluid mechanics, heat conduction, and electromagnetics, the study and application of elasticity theory requires knowledge of several areas of applied mathematics. The theory is formulated in terms of a variety of variables including scalar, vector, and tensor fields, and this calls for the use of tensor notation along with tensor algebra and calculus. Through the use of particular principles from continuum mechanics, the theory is developed as a system of partial differential field equations that are to be solved in a region of space coinciding with the body under study. Solution techniques used on these field equations commonly employ Fourier methods, variational techniques, ...