Introduction to Continuum Mechanics 连续介质力学导论.pdfVIP

CHAPTER Introduction 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION Matter is formed of molecules, which in turn consist of atoms and subatomic particles. Thus, matter is not continuous. However, there are many aspects of everyday experience regarding the behaviors of materials, such as the deflection of a structure under loads, the rate of discharge of water in a pipe under a pressure gra- dient, or the drag force experienced by a body moving in the air, that can be described and predicted with theories that pay no attention to the molecular structure of materials. The theory that aims to describe relation- ships among gross phenomena, neglecting the structure of material on a smaller scale, is known as continuum theory. The continuum theory regards matter as indefinitely divisible. Thus, within this theory, one accepts the idea of an infinitesimal volume of materials, referred to as a particle in the continuum, and in every neigh- borhood of a particle there are always neighboring particles. Whether the continuum theory is justified or not depends on the given situation. For example, although the continuum approach adequately describes the behaviors of real materials in many circumstances, it does not yield results that are in accord with experimental observations in the propagation of waves of extremely small wavelength. On the other hand, a rarefied gas may be adequately described by a continuum in certain circum- stances. At any rate, it is misleading to justify the continuum approach on the basis of the number of mole- cules in a given volume. After all, an infinitesimal volume in the limit contains no molecules at all. Neither is it necessary to infer that quantities occurring in a continuum theory must be interpreted as certain particular statistical