1R2. Classical and Computational Solid Mechanics. - YC Fung (Univ of California, San Diego CA) and Pin Tong (Hong Kong Univ of Sci and Tech, Hong Kong, China). World Sci Publ Co Pte Ltd, River Edge NJ. 2001. 952 pp. ISBN 981-02-3912-2. $98.00.
Reviewed by S Bechtel (Dept of Mech Eng, Ohio State Univ, 206 W 18th Ave, Columbus OH 43210-1154).
This book is intended as a concise account of many of the important concepts and methods of classical and computational solid mechanics, for what the authors term engineering scientists. It largely succeeds toward that goal—this is a good, comprehensive, unified presentation of much of the field of solid mechanics, written by two well-regarded researchers in that field.
The classical part of the book (the first 16 chapters) is mainly a re-issue of YC Fung’s Foundations of Solid Mechanics, with major additions to the theories of plasticity and a major revision of finite-deformational elasticity. The computational part is new and constitutes the last five chapters (roughly one-third of the book), which focus on numerical methods to solve many linear and nonlinear boundary value problems in solid mechanics.
The book covers a great deal of material in a concise, dense style, with general, unified notation, and as such is a slow read. It will perhaps be most useful for readers who already have some familiarity with solid mechanics. The book contains sufficient material in Chapters 2–14 to serve as a linear elasticity textbook. The book covers concepts from strength of materials, continuum mechanics, viscoelasticity, plasticity, and finite-deformational elasticity, but probably not sufficiently to serve as the primary text for courses in these areas. It will serve as a good review and unifier of these subjects.
Chapter 1 presents prototypes (mostly 1D) of the theories of linear elasticity, viscoelasticity, and plasticity, vibratory and wave motions, and a brief historical overview. Chapter 2 is a complete development of the tensor analysis in general curvilinear coordinates that would serve as a good introduction to the subject. The bulk of Chapters 3–16 is concerned with the theory of linear elasticity, but with some discussion of plasticity, thermodynamics, thermoelasticity, viscoelasticity, and finite deformations. Variational calculus is emphasized, to connect with the computational methods to follow.
Chapters 17–21 discuss computational methods applied to linear, nonlinear, and nonhomogeneous problems in solid mechanics. Chapter 17 develops the incremental approach to problem solving. Chapters 18–20 focus on finite element methods applied to linear elasticity problems. Chapter 21 discusses, in less depth, the finite element modeling of nonlinear elasticity, viscoelasticity, plasticity, viscoplasticity, and creep.
In many sections, there are worked examples, and in all chapters, there are problems, ranging in number from 33 in Chapter 2 to one in Chapter 21. These problems are mostly of the show, prove, or verify formats, with hints provided. Classical and Computational Solid Mechanics has an extensive and complete bibliography, with references arranged by the chapter and section to which they are relevant.
One criticism: There are far too many English language usage errors in the book, most often subject/verb disagreement, incorrect tenses, and strange word choices. These errors are especially numerous in the last five chapters. Fortunately, they do not interfere with the understandability of the presentation.
