Nonlocal continuum field theories are concerned with material bodies whose behavior at any interior point depends on the state of all other points in the body -- rather than only on an effective field resulting from these points -- in addition to its own state and the state of some calculable external field. Nonlocal field theory extends classical field theory by describing the responses of points within the medium by functionals rather than functions (the "constitutive relations" of classical field theory). Such considerations are already well known in solid-state physics, where the nonlocal interactions between the atoms are prevalent in determining the properties of the material. The tools developed for crystalline materials, however, do not lend themselves to analyzing amorphous materials, or materials in which imperfections are a major part of the structure. Nonlocal continuum theories, by contrast, can describe these materials faithfully at scales down to the lattice parameter. This book presents a unified approach to field theories for elastic solids, viscous fluids, and heat-conducting electromagnetic solids and fluids that include nonlocal effects in both space and time (memory effects). The solutions to the field equations agree remarkably well with atomic theories and experimental observations.

Wave Propagation in Nanostructures describes the fundamental and advanced concepts of waves propagating in structures that have dimensions of the order of nanometers. The book is fundamentally based on non-local elasticity theory, which includes scale effects in the continuum model. The book predominantly addresses wave behavior in carbon nanotubes and Graphene structures, although the methods of analysis provided in this text are equally applicable to other nanostructures. The book takes the reader from the fundamentals of wave propagation in nanotubes to more advanced topics such as rotating nanotubes, coupled nanotubes, and nanotubes with magnetic field and surface effects. The first few chapters cover the basics of wave propagation, different modeling schemes for nanostructures and introduce non-local elasticity theories, which form the building blocks for understanding the material provided in later chapters. A number of interesting examples are provided to illustrate the important features of wave behavior in these low dimensional structures.

This book offers a comprehensive and timely report of size-dependent continuum mechanics approaches. Written by scientists with worldwide reputation and established expertise, it covers the most recent findings, advanced theoretical developments and computational techniques, as well as a range of applications, in the field of nonlocal continuum mechanics. Chapters are concerned with lattice-based nonlocal models, Eringen’s nonlocal models, gradient theories of elasticity, strain- and stress-driven nonlocal models, and peridynamic theory, among other topics. This book provides researchers and practitioners with extensive and specialized information on cutting-edge theories and methods, innovative solutions to current problems and a timely insight into the behavior of some advanced materials and structures. It also offers a useful reference guide to senior undergraduate and graduate students in mechanical engineering, materials science, and applied physics.

In this Element, the authors consider fully discretized p-Laplacian problems (evolution, boundary value and variational problems) on graphs. The motivation of nonlocal continuum limits comes from the quest of understanding collective dynamics in large ensembles of interacting particles, which is a fundamental problem in nonlinear science, with applications ranging from biology to physics, chemistry and computer science. Using the theory of graphons, the authors give a unified treatment of all the above problems and establish the continuum limit for each of them together with non-asymptotic convergence rates. They also describe an algorithmic framework based proximal splitting to solve these discrete problems on graphs.

This book presents a discussion of lattice dynamics for perfect and imperfect lattices and their relation to continuum theories of elasticity, piezoelectricity, viscoelasticity and plasticity. Some of the material is rather classical and close in spirit to solid state physics. A major aim here is to present a coherent theory for the four basic behavior types in the style of continuum mechanics. In each case, emphasis is on an explicit display of the physical mechanisms involved rather than general formalisms. The material is presented in terms of an atomistic picture for the discrete system. The basic ideas are believed to be relevant also at an intermediate scale in the continuum description of media with structure such as granular materials and composites.

This book is devoted to the development of the local gradient theory of dielectrics. It presents a brief description of the known approaches to the construction of generalized (integral- and gradient-type) continuous theories of dielectrics. It describes a new continuum–thermodynamic approach to the construction of nonlinear high-order gradient theory of thermoelastic non-ferromagnetic polarized media. This approach is based on accounting for non-diffusive and non-convective mass fluxes associated with the changes in the material microstructure. Within the linear approximation, the theory has been applied to study transition modes of the formation of near-surface inhomogeneity of coupled fields in solids, disjoining pressure in thin films, etc. The theory describes a number of observable phenomena (including the surface, size, flexoelectric, pyroelectric, and thermopolarization effects in centrosymmetric crystals, the Meads anomaly, the high frequency dispersion of elastic waves, etc.) that cannot be explained within the framework of the classical theory of dielectrics.

Presents a complete description of homogenous and isotropic tensor-valued random fields, including the problems of continuum physics, mathematical tools and applications.

This comprehensive volume presents a unified framework of continuum theories. It indicates that (i) microcontinuum theories (micromorphic and micropolar theories) are natural extension of classical continuum mechanics, and (ii) classical continuum mechanics is a special case of microcontinuum theories when the deformable material point is idealized as a single mathematical point. The kinematics and basic laws are rigorously derived. Based on axiomatic approach, constitutive theory is systematically derived for various kinds of materials, ranging from Stokesian fluid to thermo-visco-elastic-plastic solid. Material force and Thermomechanical-electromagnetic coupling are introduced and discussed. Moreover, general finite element methods for large-strain thermomechanical coupling physical phenomena are systematically formulated. Also, non-classical continuum theories (Nonlocal Theory, Mechanobiology, 4D printing, Poromechanics, and Non-Self-Similar Crack Propagation) are rigorously formulated with applications and demonstrated numerically.As an advanced monograph, this unique compendium can also be used as a textbook for several graduate courses, including continuum mechanics, finite element methods, and advanced engineering science theories. Extensive problems are provided to help students to better understand the topics covered.