Continuum Mechanics

The fundamental concepts of continuum mechanics have been widely used at various stages in the study of solid mechanics, fluid mechanics, geomechanics and material engineering. The basic concepts of continuum mechanics are used in their simpler form for initial analysis before preliminary design of engineering structures and the advanced principles are used for complex analysis before final design. Many of the undergraduate and graduate courses employ the concepts of continuum mechanics as the basis for further development  of engineering principles. Therefore, it is necessary as a first step to understand clearly the basic principles and corresponding mathematical expressions involved in continuum mechanics. Since the solutions to most of the engineering problems are obtained by solving the governing equations, it is imperative that one should learn the origin of such equations and the basis on which they have been derived. For this reason, attention has been given in this book to present the derivations of various fundamental equations in an extensive manner. (jacket)