Institute of Fundamental Technological Research

The aim of this note is to show possible consequences of the principle of stationary action formulated for dissipative bodies. The material structure with internal state variables is considered for those bodies. The appropriate action functional is proposed for a typical dissipative body. Possible variations of fields of dependent state variables are introduced together with a non-commutative rule between operations of taking variations of the field and their partial time derivatives. Assuming vanishing of the first variation of the functional, the balance of linear momentum in differential form is received together with evolution equations for internal state variables and stress boundary condition.

dissipative bodies, principle of stationary action, Lagrangian, non-commutative rule, internal state variables

The explicit expressions for the change in the amplitudes of one-dimensional acceleration and shock waves propagating through arbitrary homogeneous materials described by the strain and internal state variables/parameters/are derived. The existence of a critical amplitude β for the acceleration wave and a critical strain gradient λ for the shock wave is established. For an infinitesimal shock wave the general form of the solution of the governing differential equation is furnished. The differential equations for the amplitudes of these two kind of waves are applied to an elastic-viscoplastic material.

Acceleration waves in a rheological material in the case of a one-dimensional theory are investigated. It is assumed that the internal dissipation of a rheological material can be described by n internal scalar parameters. The basic theorems for a homothermal acceleration wave are proved.