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Highlights • New definition of the local material symmetry group within the nonlinear micromorphic continuum. • Definitions of micromorphic solids, fluids and subfluids. • Granular material as a micromorphic subfluid. Abstract Within the framework of the theory of nonlinear elastic micromorphic continua we introduce the new definition of the local material symmetry group. The group consists of ordered triples of second- and third-order tensors describing such changes of a reference placement that cannot be recognized with any experiment. Using the definition we characterize the micromorphic isotropic media, micromorphic fluids, solids and special intermediate cases called micromorphic subfluids or micromorphic liquid crystals. We demonstrate that some typical behaviour of such complex media as granular materials can be described within the micromorphic subfluids mechanics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We extend the material symmetry group of the non-linear polar-elastic continuum by taking into account microstructure curvature tensors as well as different transformation properties of polar and axial tensors. The group consists of an ordered triple of tensors which makes the strain energy density of polar-elastic continuum invariant under change of reference placement. An analog of the Noll rule is established. Four simple specific cases of the group with corresponding reduced forms of the strain energy density are discussed. Definitions of polar-elastic fluids, solids, liquid crystals and subfluids are given in terms of members of the symmetry group. Within polar-elastic solids we discuss in more detail isotropic, hemitropic, cubic-symmetric, transversely isotropic, and orthotropic materials and give explicitly corresponding reduced representations of the strain energy density. For physically linear polar-elastic solids, when the density becomes a quadratic function of strain measures, reduced representations of the density are established for monoclinic, orthotropic, cubic-symmetric, hemitropic and isotropic materials in terms of appropriate joint scalar invariants of stretch, wryness and undeformed structure curvature tensors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Constitutive inequalities in general static and dynamic theory of elastic shells undergoing finite deformation are discussed. Constitutive inequalities are well known in continuum mechanics. They express physical or mathematical restrictions for constitutive equations of 3D elastic materials. In this paper we discuss the analogs of the strong ellipticity, Hadamard and Coleman-Noll (GCN-condition) inequalities for nonlinear elastic shells. It is shown that the GCN-condition implies the strong elipticity for shell theory whereas the strong ellipticity is equivalent to the existence conditions of acceleration waves in shell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It was with Maugin that Francesco dell'Isola met Paul Germain for the first time. It is in this perspective that some of dell'Isola's works in the field of Economics, such as dell'Isola and del Monte [[18]] or his recent book [[19]], should be framed. Graph We are very pleased to dedicate this Special Issue of I Mathematics and Mechanics of Solids i to Francesco dell'Isola for celebrating his 60th birthday. Francesco dell'Isola's academic formation can be ascribed to a double matrix: the primary Italian one, for which it is even possible to draw up a genealogy, and the French one, mediated by his numerous collaborations with French scientists and inspired by his fruitful contact, as a young scholar, with Paul Germain. [Extracted from the article]

As part of his groundbreaking work on generalized continuum mechanics, Eringen proposed what he called 3M theories, namely the concept of micromorphic, microstretch, and micropolar materials modeling. The micromorphic approach provides the most general framework for a continuum with translational and (internal) rotational degrees of freedom (DOF), whilst the rotational DOFs of micromorphic and micropolar continua are subjected to more and more constraints. More recently, an "extended" micropolar theory has been presented by one of the authors: Eringen's 3M theories were children of solid mechanics based on the concept of the indestructible material particle. Extended micropolar theory was formulated both ways for material systems as well as in spatial description, which is useful when describing fluid matter. The latter opens the possibility to model situations and materials with a continuum point that on the microscale consists no longer of the same elementary units during a physical process. The difference culminates in an equation for the microinertia tensor, which is no longer a kinematic identity. Rather it contains a new continuum field, namely an independent production term and, consequently, establishes a new constitutive quantity. This makes it possible to describe processes of structural change, which are difficult if not impossible to be captured within the material particle model. This paper compares the various theories and points out their communalities as well as their differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the applicability of Eringen's Generalized Continuum Theories as a model for human blood in the microcirculation. The applied theory considers a fluid with a fully deformable substructure, namely a micromorphic fluid. This analysis is motivated by the fact that blood itself can be considered a suspension of deformable particles, i.e., red blood cells (RBCs), suspended in a Newtonian fluid, i.e., blood plasma. As a consequence, non-Newtonian phenomena such as shear-thinning are observed in blood. To test the micromorphic fluid as a model for blood, the solution for the velocity and the motion of substructure is determined for a cylindrical pipe flow and compared to experimental results of blood flow through narrow glass capillaries representing idealized blood vessels. A similar analysis was also conducted by Kang and Eringen in 1976, but it contains some misprints and minor errors regarding the mathematical expressions and subsequent discussion which are corrected in this paper. For certain material parameters, the micromorphic fluid models capture high-shear blood flow in narrow glass capillaries very well. This concerns both the velocity profiles and the shear-thinning behavior. Furthermore, a parameter study reveals that the flexibility of substructure governs the micromorphic shear-thinning. In this regard, parallels can be drawn to the shear-thinning of human blood, which is also induced by the deformability of RBCs. This makes the micromorphic fluid a complex but accurate model for human blood, at least for the considered experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We postulate a deformation energy for describing the mechanical behavior of so called pantographic blocks, that is bodies constituted by stacking of N layers of pantographic sheets. We remark that the pantographic effect is limited in the plane of pantographic sheets and therefore only the second derivatives of transverse displacements along the pantographic fibers appear in the chosen deformation energy. We use this novel energy to predict the behavior of pantographic blocks when subjected to : (i) compression and traction test, (ii) torsion, (iii) shear and (iv) bending. A linearization of the energy shows one floppy mode in addition to the rigid body motions, assuming perfect pivots, similar to pantographic sheets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]