Variational principle involving the stress tensor in elastodynamics (Q1072745)

In the mechanics of inviscid conservative fluids, it is classical to generate the equations of dynamic by formulating with adequate variables, that the pressure integral calculated in the time-space domain corresponding to the motion of the continuous medium is stationary. The present study extends this principle to the dynamics of large deformations for isentropic motions in thermoelastic bodies: We use a new way of writing the equations of motion in terms of ''potentials'' and we substitute the trace of the stress tensor for the pressure term.