This paper aims to establish a variational framework for materials having coupling
interactions between electromagnetic and mechanical fields. Based on coupled
constitutive equations and the alternative field equations, a general variational form,
imposing no restriction on the fields involved, is given. Subsequently, the result is
derived for the case when satisfaction of the strain-displacement equation is presumed
as a restriction. Next, the variational forms for kinematically admissible processes
and, in turn, for kinematically admissible displacement-potential processes are found.
Finally, the principles characterizing the stress field instead of the displacement field
are formulated. The results of the present work provide a framework in which
the satisfaction of initial boundary conditions is inherently considered. The
proposed framework furnishes an alternative path for the implementation of
numerical approaches for PDEs governing the motion of electromagneto-elastic
materials.
Department of Mechanical Science and
Engineering
Institute for Condensed Matter Theory
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Urbana, IL
United States