[John W. Rudnicki]Fundamentals of Continuum Mechanics (pdf){Zzzzz}

A concise introductory course text on continuum mechanics

Fundamentals of Continuum Mechanics focuses on the fundamentals of the subject and provides the background for formulation of numerical methods for large deformations and a wide range of material behaviours. It aims to provide the foundations for further study, not just of these subjects, but also the formulations for much more complex material behaviour and their implementation computationally.

This book is divided into 5 parts, covering mathematical preliminaries, stress, motion and deformation, balance of mass, momentum and energy, and ideal constitutive relations and is a suitable textbook for introductory graduate courses for students in mechanical and civil engineering, as well as those studying material science, geology and geophysics and biomechanics.

A concise introductory course text on continuum mechanics
Covers the fundamentals of continuum mechanics
Uses modern tensor notation
Contains problems and accompanied by a companion website hosting solutions
Suitable as a textbook for introductory graduate courses for students in mechanical and civil engineering

Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (November 10, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1118479912
ISBN-13: 978-1118479919

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Continuum mechanics is a mathematical framework for studying the transmission of force through and deformation of materials of all types. The goal is to construct a framework that is free of special assumptions about the type of material, the size of deformations, the geometry of the problem, etc. Of course, no real materials are actually continuous; nevertheless, treating the material as continuous is a great advantage since it makes possible the use of mathematical tools of continuous functions, such as differentiation. In addition to being convenient, this approach works remarkably well. This is true even at size scales for which the justification of treating the material as a continuum might be debatable. The ultimate justification is that predictions made using continuum mechanics are in accord with observations and measurements.

Fundamentals of Continuum Mechanics comprehensively introduces the subject and the background for formulation of numerical methods for large deformations and a wide range of material behaviors. It provides the foundations for further study, not just of these subjects, but also for formulations of more complex material behavior and their implementation computationally. It is divided into five parts, covering mathematical preliminaries; stress; motion and deformation; balance of mass, momentum, and energy; and ideal constitutive relations.

Key features:

Serves as a concise introductory course text on continuum mechanics.
Covers the fundamentals of continuum mechanics.
Uses modern tensor notation.
Contains problems and is accompanied by a companion website hosting solutions.

Fundamentals of Continuum Mechanics is an ideal textbook for introductory graduate courses for students in mechanical and civil engineering, as well as those studying materials science, geology and geophysics, and biomechanics. It is also a concise reference for industry practitioners.

About the Author
John W. Rudnicki received his bachelor, master’s and PhD degrees from Brown University in the USA, the last in 1977. He has been on the faculty of Northwestern University since 1981, where he is now Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He has been awarded the Biot Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Brown Engineering Alumni Medal, the Daniel C. Drucker Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Engineering Science Medal from the Society of Engineering Science. His research has been primarily in geomechanics, specifically the inelastic behavior and failure of geomaterials. He has been especially interested in deformation instabilities in brittle rocks and granular media, including their interactions with pore fluids, with applications to the mechanics of earthquakes and environment- and resource-related geomechanics

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Rudnicki's Course Strikes a Harmonious Balance between Instruction and Independent Thinking
By Aaron P Stebner on October 21, 2014
Rudnicki's course (and book) built a solid foundation that has enabled me to work confidently on many different problems and complicated materials. The emphasis on fundamental concepts and operations, not procedure, promotes solid understanding. The real genius in the course (and book), however, is a harmonious balance between providing enough guidance to advance the student through the materials without spoon feeding. Some books provide detailed procedures in the chapters, and the student merely need mimic those procedures to solve the course problems. Contrarily, Rudnicki's structure of providing the basics in the chapters, but then leaving it to the student derive many of the key identities of Continuum Mechanics through the problems not only efficiently conveys the essential fundamentals, but also promotes the independent thinking required for research and first-hand experience in adopting the tools toward solving problems. I have been on both sides of the coin, both as a student in Rudnicki's course, and now as an instructor using his book, and the results are equally remarkable. This semester I have the first subgroup of students from our pilot run with this book in a Nonlinear Solids course, and even the students that had to put a lot of effort into the Continuum Mechanics course have advanced with the tools and foundation needed to work through more complex problems.