This book presents the micromechanics of random structure heterogeneous materials, a multidisciplinary research area that has experienced a revolutionary renascence at the overlap of various branches of materials science, mechanical engineering, applied mathematics, technical physics, geophysics, and biology. It demonstrates intriguing successes of unified rigorous theoretical methods of applied mathematics and statistical physics in material science of microheterogeneous media. The prediction of the behaviour of heterogeneous materials by the use of properties of constituents and their microstructure is a central problem of micromechanics. This book is the first in micromechanics where a successful effort of systematic and fundamental research of the microstructure of the wide class of heterogeneous materials of natural and synthetic nature is attempted. The uniqueness of the book lies in its development and expressive representation of statistical methods quantitatively describing random structures which are at most adopted for the forthcoming evaluation of a wide variety of macroscopic transport, electromagnetic, strength, and elastoplastic properties of heterogeneous materials.

Here is an accurate and timely account of micromechanics, which spans materials science, mechanical engineering, applied mathematics, technical physics, geophysics, and biology. The book features rigorous and unified theoretical methods of applied mathematics and statistical physics in the material science of microheterogeneous media. Uniquely, it offers a useful demonstration of the systematic and fundamental research of the microstructure of the wide class of heterogeneous materials of natural and synthetic nature.

Granular or particulate materials arise in almost every aspect of our lives, including many familiar materials such as tea, coffee, sugar, sand, cement and powders. At some stage almost every industrial process involves a particulate material, and it is usually the cause of the disruption to the smooth running of the process. In the natural environment, understanding the behaviour of particulate materials is vital in many geophysical processes such as earthquakes, landslides and avalanches. This book is a collection of current research from some of the major contributors in the topic of modelling the behaviour of granular materials. Papers from every area of current activity are included, such as theoretical, numerical, engineering and computational approaches. This book illustrates the numerous diverse approaches to one of the outstanding problems of modern continuum mechanics.

The application of composite materials to engineering components has spurred a ma jor effort to analyze such materials and the structures made from them. Most researchers workin~ in mechanics of composite structures understand that composite materials pro vide umque advantages but also present complex and challenging problems to researchers. The complex inelastic behavior and variety of failure modes of composite structures are a result of the strength and stiffness properties of constituents and their complex interac tions. Macromechanical constitutive models based on gross composite properties cannot realistically represent local interactions, and thus have serious limitations. The composite materials that are of most interest to engineering applications are often "brittle" in their behavior, in the sense that the strength and life of the material systems is controlled or greatly influenced by events or processes which involve volumes of material whose dimen sions are small compared to the global dimensions of the element. This is also true in ductile systems where local nonlinearity may contribute to local behavior which controls global response.

This book studies the flow of materials and the influence of strain rates on the relationship between imposed stresses and the dynamic deformations obtained. It provides applications for shaping, molecular molding, shrink-fit assembly and welding, including details of the various specific processes for implementation at high strain rates, illustrated by numerous industrial examples. Rheology, Physical and Mechanical Behavior of Materials 2 presents studies on the dynamic behavior of materials when subjected to mechanical, electromagnetic and electrohydraulic actions. The topics covered include dynamic structural memory, molecular molding, shaping, assembly and welding. It is aimed at researchers involved in the mechanics of deformable media, as well as industrial design and manufacturing departments.

Advanced materials play a crucial role in modern engineering applications where they are often exposed to complex loading and environmental conditions. In many cases, new approaches are needed to characterise these materials and to model their behaviour. Such approaches should be calibrated and validated by specific experimental techniques, quantifying both microstructural features and respective mechanisms at various length scales. The book provides an overview of modern modelling tools and experimental methods that can be employed to analyse and estimate properties and performance of advanced materials. A special feature of the book is the analysis of case studies used to demonstrate the strategies of solving the real-life problems, in which the microstructure of materials directly affects their response to loading and/or environmental conditions. The reader will benefit from a detailed analysis of various methods as well as their implementation for dealing with various advanced materials.