9R6. Mechanics of Elastic Composites (CRC Series in Modern Mechanics and Mathematics). - Edited by ND Cristescu (Dept of Mech and Aerospace Eng, Univ of Florida, Gainesville FL) E-M Craciun, (Faculty of Math and Informatics, Univ of Constanta, Romania). Chapman and Hall/CRC Press, Boca Raton FL. 2004. 682 pp. ISBN 1-58488-442-8.
Reviewed by GC Gaunaurd (Code AMSRL-SE-RU, Army Res Lab, 2800 Powder Mill Rd, Adelphi MD 20783-1197).
This book is a very enlarged version of the book of the same title published by the first author at the University of Bucharest in 1983. The book comprises eight chapters. The first two are introductory chapters addressing tensor analysis and tensor alegebra in chapter one. The second chapter reviews all the elements of linear elastostatics. This hundred-page introduction provides all the major formulas required for those basic topics. This includes items such as, minimum principles of elastostatics and Eshelby’s inclusion theorem and problem. There are over 100 practice problems in this pair of chapters.
The work on elastic composites starts on chapter three, which deals with composite laminates. This is a good point to begin for anyone wishing to learn the basic classical aspects of elastic composites. These include constitutive equations, boundary conditions and variational principles from the micro-mechanical and macro-mechanical points of view. There are over 50 problems at the end to help the student understand these issues better.
Macroscopically homogeneous biphasic linearly elastic composites are covered in Chapter 4. The classical general theory of micro-mechanics is included here and there are over 50 exercise problems here, too.
The three-dimensional linearized theory of elastic body stability begins in Chapter 5. There are sections on small deformations superimposed on large static deformations and on stable and unstable equilibrium configurations. Other topics such as variational principles, bifurcation analysis and dynamic stability criteria are also covered. There are also about 50 problems/exercises at the end.
The last three chapters deal more with recent research topics apparently unavailable until this time in western countries. Chapter 6 addresses the buckling of fiber-reinforced composite strips and bars. It attempts to show the limit of validity of classical plate theory and of Euler’s theory for bars. Chapter 7 studies the stability of composite laminates. The eighth and final chapter gives a brief introduction to the fracture mechanics of fiber-reinforced composites. At the start there is a summary of needed elements of complex variable theory as well as the asymptotic behavior of incremental fields. Griffith’s criterion is also covered and also cases of crack propagation. The Plemelj-Sohockii formulas are discussed in the text, and expanded in the exercises. Each of the chapters ends with about 50 problems which brings the total for the book to over 400. The answers/solutions to a good portion of these are provided in a large (150 pp) section at the end of the book.
I believe this is an excellent book. It can be used as a textbook for some of the topics it covers and in view of its advanced mathematical level, also as a reference book for researchers and institutional libraries. In general, the book is aimed at the graduate student or professional researcher. The problem collection is excellent. There are very few figures. I know of very few books on this classical topic which cover so much material in such a readable and user-friendly way. The aims of the authors were well reached. It will be quite useful for mechanics students and researchers.
