Introduction to Continuum Mechanics 1st Edition by Sudhakar Nair (PDF)

Description

This textbook treats solids and fluids in a balanced manner, using thermodynamic restrictions on the relation between applied forces and material responses. This unified approach can be appreciated by engineers, physicists, and applied mathematicians with some background in engineering mechanics. It has many examples and about 150 exercises for students to practise. The higher mathematics needed for a complete understanding is provided in the early chapters. This subject is essential for engineers involved in experimental or numerical modelling of material behaviour.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I have read 9 chapters of the total 14 in this book until now, and I have to say that I really dislike it.First of all, this book is terrible written, the author introduces concepts with no previous references at all or the mathematical development is not shown, it only mentions the name of the concept and final expression. Furthermore, he enumerates equations and they are never mentioned again, for example, when a calculation requires to recall those previous expressions (let say you are in chapter 8 and you need an expression of chapter 5), he only uses the expressions but never mentions where it came from, so you need to go back and search for it or learn the expression by memory. Also, when he is explaining concepts based of geometrical representations, the book shines for its absence of figures and when they are available they are wrong represented, so for example, a Point P is mentioned in the text but in the figure it is not there. The figures seems like made with MS word.These problems, above mentioned, are presented in every single chapter. Let me summarize you the content of each chapter (until chapter 9):Chapter 1. Introduces the concept of continuum and it is like a preface in which explains the content of each chapter.Chapter 2. Index notation and Cartesian tensors. It also includes the basic eigenvalue problem and the polar decomposition of a matrix, as well as other mathematical tools, such as summation convention.Chapter 3. This chapter is bad. because the author introduces general tensors, which are not used again in the rest of the book (except in chapter 5 where they are briefly mentioned again). Lack of figures to explain covariant y contracovariant basis I had to go to other book in order to understand what he was trying to explain, and for nothing because they are not used in the rest of the book.Chapter 4. Introduces Gauss theorem and Stokes theorem, and this is it. It is only like 5 pages.Chapter 5. Deformation. Material and spatial descriptions are introduced among other concepts. Those familiar with kinematics will be fine in this chapter.Chapter 6. Motion. He obtains the derivatives and integral of material coordinates. Spin and deformation rate are introduced.Chapter 7. Introduces concept such as energy balance, conservation of mass and objectivity (and others). The problem with this chapter is that you should have been exposed to this concepts before, because it only shows you the final expression.Chapter 8. It introduces the stress tensor. Lack of explanation is presented in how the Piola-Kirshoff stress tensors are obtained.Chapter 9 . Introduces concepts of thermodynamics, such as first law and clausius-duhem inequality for irreversible processes. This chapter has the same issues, if you have been exposed to those concepts before you are going to be fine, otherwise you should search somewhere else.I am starting chapter 10, which is about constitutive relations. The remaining chapters are: 11. hyperelastic materials,12. fluid dynamics, 13. viscoelasticity and 14. plasticity.One more thing, the book is not long, it is like 200 pages and also it comes with problems for each chapter but the solutions are not given.

⭐This book might have an appropriate level of explanation for someone, but it sure doesn’t for me. I was able to follow most of Chapter 1, which covers index notation, because I’ve used it in two previous classes. The rest of the book is proving to be entirely inscrutable. I’m sure it all makes sense to someone who is already well versed in the material, but if you’re using this as a student who does not understand the material, then you may be in for a frustrating read. Chapter 4, on integral theorems (5 pages long), seems to begin by assuming you are experienced with manipulating vector and tensor integrals. I find myself constantly scratching my head wondering why a step was performed in a derivation, or how the author knows a stated relation to be true. The whole book is like this, from what I can tell. Even many of the problems given at the ends of chapters are unclear and require some guesswork to figure out what is being asked, and there are no answers given at the end of the book.I can’t imagine learning the basics of continuum mechanics from this bare-minimum-explanation book. If you have an excellent instructor and/or a support system of other knowledgeable students who can fill in the blanks, then this might be an acceptable reference. This is the only continuum mechanics book I’ve used.My idea of an excellent math book is Greenberg’s Advanced Engineering Mathematics, if that helps anyone put my review in perspective. I notice that Nair lists it as suggested reading for some chapters in his book, and for good reason.

⭐I have been lucky enough to hear this course from Prof. Nair and was able to gain his insights about the mechanics of continua. Now, as a teacher of the subject I felt very lucky to get my hands on this book, which is an extended version of his course notes. Being one of the toughest subjects to grasp, Prof. Nair’s treatment helps engineering students connect and unify their previous knowledge from various field of mechanics with new ideas and concepts presented in this text.

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