Geometry and balance of hyperstresses (Q931051)

If the constitutive relations of a material involve higher-order gradients of deformation, we call it a higher-grade material. These kind of materials have been discussed in the literature since the pioneer works by Korteweg and Jaramillo. One can also consider fluids with constitutive relations depending of higher-order gradients of velocity field, that is, fluids of higher grade. This paper is focused on materials of grade 2, or second-grade materials. The author gives first a short review of the standard treatment of such materials, using a modern language of jet bundles. Then, the following issues (which are the main results of the present paper) are discussed: 1) Study of surface hyperstresses along a layer gluing two second-grade bodies; 2) The influence of a bulk hyperstresses on point defects and linear inclusions is evaluated by making use of the invariance properties of Lagrangian density and balances of powers; 3) The analysis of the evolution of cracks.