Vassilios K. Kalpakides - Configurational Mechanics: Proceedings of the Symposium on Configurational Mechanics, Thessaloniki, Greece, 17-22 August 2003

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CONFIGURATIONAL MECHANICS

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONFIGURATIONAL MECHANICS SYMPOSIUM HELD WITHIN THE 5TH EUROMECH SOLID MECHANICS CONFERENCE, 1722 AUGUST 2003, THESSALONIKI, GREECE

Edited by

Vassilios K.Kalpakides
University of loannina, Greece
Grard A.Maugin
Universit Pierre et Marie Curie, France

A.A.BALKEMA PUBLISHERS
LEIDEN / LONDON / NEW YORK / PHILADELPHIA / SINGAPORE

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Copyright 2004 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK

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Published by: A.A.Balkema Publishers, a member of Taylor & Francis Group plc
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This volume is the outcome of a symposium on configurational mechanics, which was held during the 5th Euromech Solid Mechanics Conference (Thessaloniki, August 1722, 2003). This was one event among many others that took place in 2003 stressing the increasing interest by the mechanics community in configurational mechanics.

A proceedings volume can never reproduce the vividness and the discussions atmosphere of a live meeting. Nevertheless, the readers thirst for sensations can be compensated by the authors efforts to expose their ideas in long and explanatory written texts. We hope that this will render the volume attractive not only to the specialists of the particular topic but also to those approaching from different perspectives this interdisciplinary field.

We take this opportunity to thank all the authors for their written contributions and for the efforts they produced in conforming to the spirit of the volume as well as following the complicated technical instructions of the Publisher. Also, we acknowledge the financial support of the University of loannina without which the present volume would not be finalized.

Last but not least, we thank the Ph.D. students Konstantinos Balassas and Eleni Agiasofitou for the generous technical aid they have provided during the editing of the volume.

December 15, 2003.

Vassilios K.Kalpakides, Grard A.Maugin

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G.A.Maugin
Laboratoire de Modlisattion en Mcanique, Universit Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France

ABSTRACT: Although it now finds applications in typical engineering settings such as the application of finite-element and finite-volume computational techniques, the theory of configurationalor materialforces smells good of its mathematical-physical origin. It is in the light of this evidence that we briefly examine some of the most recent fruitful developments of this theory. The newly entertained relationship with computational techniques based on mathematical formulations akin to general conservation laws (weak form such as the principle of virtual power, classical volume balance laws) is not so surprising. This contribution revisits some recent progress such as the generation of material driving forces in the spirit of the principle of virual power, and the allied application to numerical schemes such as those developed for studying the nonrectilinear progress of cracks (finite elements) and the progress of phase transition fronts (finite volumes).