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.

This accessible text presents a unified approach of treating the microstructure and effective properties of heterogeneous media. Part I deals with the quantitative characterization of the microstructure of heterogeneous via theoretical methods; Part II treats a wide variety of effective properties of heterogeneous materials and how they are linked to the microstructure, accomplished by using rigorous methods.

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.

This monograph deals with the behavior of essentially nonlinear heterogeneous materials in processes occurring under intense dynamic loading, where microstructural effects play the main role. This book is not an introduction to the dynamic behavior of materials, and general information available in other books is not included. The material herein is presented in a form I hope will make it useful not only for researchers working in related areas, but also for graduate students. I used it successfully to teach a course on the dynamic behavior of materials at the University of California, San Diego. Another course well suited to the topic may be nonlinear wave dynamics in solids, especially the part on strongly nonlinear waves. About 100 problems presented in the book at the end of each chapter will help the reader to develop a deeper understanding of the subject. I tried to follow a few rules in writing this book: (1) To focus on strongly nonlinear phenomena where there is no small parameter with respect to the amplitude of disturbance, including solitons, shock waves, and localized shear. (2) To take into account phenomena sensitive to materials structure, where typical space scale of material parameters (particle size, cell size) are presented in the models or are variable in experimental research.

A comprehensive overview is given in this book towards a fundamental understanding of the micromechanics of the overall response and failure modes of advanced materials, such as ceramics and ceramic and other composites. These advanced materials have become the focus of systematic and extensive research in recent times. The book consists of two parts. The first part reviews solids with microdefects such as cavities, cracks, and inclusions, as well as elastic composites. To render the book self-contained, the second part focuses on the fundamentals of continuum mechanics, particularly linear elasticity which forms the basis for the development of small deformation micromechanics. In Part 1, a fundamental and general framework for quantitative, rigorous analysis of the overall response and failure modes of microstructurally heterogeneous solids is systematically developed. These expressions apply to broad classes of materials with inhomogeneities and defects. While for the most part, the general framework is set within linear elasticity, the results directly translate to heterogeneous solids with rate-dependent or rate-independent inelastic constituents. This application is specifically referred to in various chapters. The general exact correlations obtained between the overall properties and the microstructure are then used together with simple models, to develop techniques for direct quantitative evaluation of the overall response which is generally described in terms of instantaneous overall moduli or compliance. The correlations among the corresponding results for a variety of problems are examined in great detail. The bounds as well as the specific results, include new observations and original developments, as well as an in-depth account of the state of the art. Part 2 focuses on Elasticity. The section on variational methods includes some new elements which should prove useful for application to advanced modeling, as well as solutions of composites and related heterogeneous bodies. A brief modern version of elements in vector and tensor algebra is provided which is particularly tailored to provide a background for the rest of this book. The data contained in this volume as Part 1 includes new results on many basic issues in micromechanics, which will be helpful to graduate students and researchers involved with rigorous physically-based modeling of overall properties of heterogeneous solids.

Most materials used in contemporary life and industry are heterogeneous (composites) and multicomponent, possessing a rich and complex internal structure. This internal structure, or microstructure, plays a key role in understanding and controlling the continuum behavior, or macroscopic, of a wide variety of materials. The modeling process is a critical tool for scientists and engineers studying the analysis and experimentation for the micromechanics and behavior of these materials. "Heterogeneous Media" is a critical, in-depth edited survey of the major topics surrounding the modeling and analysis of problems in micromechanics of multicomponent systems, including conceptual and practical aspects. The goal of this extensive and comprehensive survey is to provide both specialists and nonspecialists with an authoritative and interdisciplinary perspective of current ideas and methods used for modeling heterogeneous materials behavior and their applications. Topics and Features: * all chapters use interdisciplinary modeling perspective for investigating heterogeneous media*Five chapters provide self-contained discussions, with background provided*Focuses only upon most important techniques and models, fully exploring micro-macro interconnections*extensive introductory survey chapter on micromechanics of heterogeneous media*microstructure characterization via statistical correlation functions*micro-scale deformation of pore space*wave fields and effective dynamical properties*modeling of the complex production technologies for composite materials The book is ideal for a general scientific and engineering audience needing an in-depth view and guide to current ideas, methods and