Planar Cosserat elasticity of materials
with holes and intrusions
I Jasiuk
Department of Materials Science and Mechanics,
Michigan State University, E Lansing M148824-1226 USA
M Ostoja-Starzewski
Institute of Paper Science and Technology, 500 l Oth Street NW, Atlanta GA 30318-5794 USA
Recently, Cherkaev, Lurie, and Milton (I 992) established an invariance of stress field in planar
linear anisotropic elasticity under a specific shift in bulk and shear moduli; this is now known as
the CLM theorem. Motivated by the importance of micropolar models in mechanics of media
with micropolar structures, Ostaja-Starzewski and Jasiuk (1995) generalized the CLM theorem
to planar micropolar elastic materials and considered inhomogeneous simply-connected
materials. The present study addresses inhomogeneous, multiply-connected materials (with
holes), which require global compatibility conditions involving Ces/Lro integrals, as well as
multi-phase simply-connected materials, where the interface conditions need to be considered.
Just as in the previous paper, both of these cases display a reduction in the parameter space.
1. INTRODUCTION
The classical continuum mechanics is based on the
assumption that the interaction between any two continuum
particles across an elementary area lying within the body
occurs solely through the force traction vector t (_= t: ). As a
result, this theory lacks internal moment interactions~ and any
intrinsic length scales, and hence, effectively, presents just a
first-order approximation to a number of problems with
microstructures. Effects of higher order are typically
observed when one, or more, of the characteristic dimensions
of the body decrease and become comparable to the typical
material length scale(s) - such as the grain or crystal size -
and as a result the microstructure gives rise to high local gra-
dients. This happens, for example, in case of stress/strain
concentrations in the vicinity of notches and internal defects,
in mechanics of granular and multiphase media (e.g. soils,
polymers, fluid suspensions), in mechanics of perforated
plates, as well as in elastic vibrations of high frequency and
short wavelength propagation comparable to microscale
dimensions.
First attempts to remove the restrictions of the classical
continuum mechanics, in the context of elasticity theory,
were due to Voigt (1887). Namely, he assumed that the inter-
action between the continuum particles through a surface ele-
ment dA occurs not only through a force vector t.dA , but
1
also through a moment vector m.dA , and consequently, the
1
conventional stress field becomes asymmetric and is accom-
panied by an asymmetric couple-stres field. These ideas were
fully developed at the beginning of this century by the broth-
ers Eugene and Franqois Cosserat (1909) who constructed a
fully consistent theory of a continuum, in which each point
has six degrees of freedom of a rigid body, i.e. it is made of
part of MECHANICS PAN-AMERICA 1995, edited by LA Godoy, SR
Appl Mech Rev vol 48, no 11, part 2, November 1995
interconnected material particles, each capable of displace-
ment u i and rotation ~i' which are, in general, independent
functions of position and time. A new medium was thus
described in which points acquired an orientation, i.e. a polar
medium. The assumption of force transmission through the
force traction t i and the couple (moment) m i leads, through
the Euler-Cauchy principle, to two asymmetric tensors: force
stress tensor cYij and couple stress tensor I.tij (e.g. Nowacki,
1986)
= o..n. m i (1.1)
ti J1 J = ktjinj
The Cosserat theory remained practically unnoticed for
half a century. This was likely due to the relative success at
that time of the conventional continuum theories (classical
elasticity and fluid mechanics), and to its generality (as a non-
linear theory with finite motions and inelastic interactions)
and its presentation as a unified theory incorporating mechan-
ics, optics and electrodynamics. However, with many mod-
ern technological developments in the post 2nd World War
era - such as liquid crystals, porous and granular media,
composites, complex engineering structures, complex fluids,
etc. - there arose a need for more adequate continuum mod-
els than the classical one.
In the late fifties and early sixties the work of the Cosserat
brothers was rediscovered and revived - it began to play an
important role right at the base of continuum mechanics and
thermodynamics that began then to undergo a dramatic devel-
opment. As it soon turned out, the search for new models that
would allow one to better describe a number of complex
materials, resulted in theories close to, or identical to, the
Cosserat model. In those early days the attention was initially
focused on the simpler couple stress theory, or a (Cosserat)
Idelsohn, PAA Laura, and DT Mook ASME Repdnt No AMP177 $96
$11 © 1995 American Society of Mechanical Engineers
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