The book presents a series of concise papers by researchers specialized in various fields of continuum and computational mechanics and of material science. The focus is on principles and strategies for multiscale modeling and simulation of complex heterogeneous materials, with periodic or random microstructure, subjected to various types of mechanical, thermal, chemical loadings and environmental effects. A wide overview of complex behavior of materials (plasticity, damage, fracture, growth, etc.) is provided. Among various approaches, attention is given to advanced non-classical continua modeling which, provided by constitutive characterization for the internal and external actions (in particular boundary conditions), is a very powerful frame for the gross mechanical description of complex material behaviors, able to circumvent the restrictions of classical coarse–graining multiscale approaches.

The Institute for Mathematical Sciences at the National University of Singapore hosted a two-month research program on "Mathematical Theory and Numerical Methods for Computational Materials Simulation and Design" from 1 July to 31 August 2009. As an important part of the program, tutorials and special lectures were given by leading experts in the fields for participating graduate students and junior researchers. This invaluable volume collects four expanded lecture notes with self-contained tutorials. They cover a number of aspects on multiscale modeling, analysis and simulations for problems arising from materials science including some critical components in computational prediction of materials properties such as the multiscale properties of complex materials, properties of defects, interfaces and material microstructures under different conditions, critical issues in developing efficient numerical methods and analytic frameworks for complex and multiscale materials models. This volume serves to inspire graduate students and researchers who choose to embark into original research work in these fields.

Material properties emerge from phenomena on scales ranging from Angstroms to millimeters, and only a multiscale treatment can provide a complete understanding. Materials researchers must therefore understand fundamental concepts and techniques from different fields, and these are presented in a comprehensive and integrated fashion for the first time in this book. Incorporating continuum mechanics, quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, atomistic simulations and multiscale techniques, the book explains many of the key theoretical ideas behind multiscale modeling. Classical topics are blended with new techniques to demonstrate the connections between different fields and highlight current research trends. Example applications drawn from modern research on the thermo-mechanical properties of crystalline solids are used as a unifying focus throughout the text. Together with its companion book, Continuum Mechanics and Thermodynamics (Cambridge University Press, 2011), this work presents the complete fundamentals of materials modeling for graduate students and researchers in physics, materials science, chemistry and engineering.

A systematic discussion of the fundamental principles, written by a leading contributor to the field.