Forces on dislocations and inhomogeneities in the gauge theory of defects (Q1078000)

The forces acting on dislocations in a finite body with applied tractions are concerned within the frame-work of the author's gauge theory of defects [e.g. A gauge theory of dislocations and disclinations (1983; Zbl 0523.73089)]. After a brief summary on the notations, field variables, and the fields equations, the author explores the variational foundation for the calculation of the forces and the rate of work which act on the aspect of the field that is described by the Lagrangian function of a certain form. When the Lagrangian function is given for dislocated materials of finite extent, we give the forces and rate of work that arise from the presence of inhomogeneities. They are composed of the forces and rate of work applied to mass inhomogeneities, those applied to inhomogeneities in the elastic compliance, and those related to the boundary and initial data. Finally, the author gives the forces on dislocations in terms of the effective stress and the effective linear momentum. For infinite bodies, the effective stress and the effective linear momentum agree with the total stress and the total linear momentum, and the negative of Peach-Koehler forces is reproduced.