Preface
Why This Book?
It is my hope that the present book is the final edition of my lecture notes
Elementary Continuum Mechanics for Everyone. The very first edition was
written in connection with my teaching a first course on continuum mechanics
at the Technical University of Denmark. I tried to find a text that would
suit my intentions, but found that the books on the market either were filled
with tensor analysis, including e.g. curvilinear coordinates and Christoffel
Symbols, or they were of the old mechanics traditions, meaning that every
new example was treated separately with the result that universally valid
principles, such as the Principle of Virtual Work,P.1 never appeared. In my
opinion, if teaching continuum mechanics at any level is justified it must
contain a strong element of general statements. Then, of course, there is
the risk that the treatment becomes mathematically so difficult that it cannot
serve as an introduction to the subject. Therefore, this book contains
an elementary, but quite general, exposition of the subject, and it is my sincere
expectation that most students—with some effort, of course—should
be able to get a feel for the important concepts of (generalized) strains,
(generalized) stresses, and the Principle of Virtual Work. Judging from the
experience of many of my predecessors I may have set too high a goal, but
still I shall try to reach it.
Hacene@freebooks
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