Higher Gradient Theories and Their Foundations

Abstract

International audienceContinuum mechanics always supplies approximate models for physical systems, in which a more fundamental (possibly discrete or inhomogeneous) microstructure may be somehow neglected. Indeed, Cauchy (or Cauchy-Navier) continuum theory describes efficiently, at a macroscopic level, the behavior of a mechanical system only when the inhomogeneities which the model does not take into account have a characteristic length scale much smaller than the macroscale where phenomena are observed.Therefore, it is now widely accepted that in some circumstances, it is necessary to add to the placement field some extra kinematical fields, to take into account, at a macroscopic level, some aspects of the mechanical behavior of materials having complex microscopic..