Overview

No mathematical theory can completely describe the complex world around us. Every theory is aimed at a certain class of phenomena, formulates their essential features, and disregards what is of minor importance. The theory meets its limits of applicability where a dis­ regarded influence becomes important. Thus, rigid-body dynamics describes in many cases the motion of actual bodies with high accu­ racy, but it fails to produce more than a few general statements in the case of impact, because elastic or anelastic deformation, no matter how local or how small, attains a dominating influence. For a long time mechanics of deformable bodies has been based upon Hooke's law - that is, upon thE"" assumption of linear elasticity. It was well known that most engineering materials like metals, con­ crde, wood, soil, are not linearly elastic or, are so within limits too narrow to cover tne range of pl'actical intcrest. Nevertheless, almost all routine stress analysis is still based on Hooke T s law be­ cause of its simplicity. In the course of time engineers have become increasingly con­ scious of the importance of the anelastic behavior of many materials, and mathematical formulations have been attempted and applied to practical problems. Outstanding among them are the theories of ide­ ally plastic and of viscoelastic materials. While plastic behavior is essentially nonlinear (piecewise linear at best), viscoelasticity, like elasticity, permits a linear theory. This theory of linear visco­ elasticity is the subject of tbe present book.

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