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arXiv · 2609.13273

A thermomechanical framework for strongly nonlocal continua

Matthew R. Kuhn
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Abstract

The paper presents a consistent thermomechanical framework for strongly nonlocal continua, a type of generalized media in which a material's response at a point depends on deformation and temperature gradients within its neighborhood. Such dependence is responsible for localization phenomena having an intrinsic size, and nonlocal modeling also serves as a practical regularization tool to prevent mesh dependence. Nonlocality is of the integral type, using a kernel function that gives the relative influence of neighboring points on a central point. The paper develops three sources of nonlocality: (1) nonlocal momentum balance equations; (2) nonlocal conservation laws (including the first and second laws of thermodynamics); and (3) a material's nonlocal constitutive structure. Balance equations are derived using the principle of virtual power, permitting non-smooth force and displacement fields and non-smooth boundary surfaces with indistinct normal directions. The balance equations differ from those of classical local continua. Conservation laws also differ from those of local continua, with the mechanical power and heating at a point being averaged over its neighborhood. These laws are developed for processes that are sufficiently slow to minimize additional meso-scale kinetic energy due to internal turbulence. Stress, entropy, and dissipative forces are obtained as averaged derivatives of the free energy function with respect to strain, temperature, and internal variables. An example is presented of a stretched elastoplastic bar with a small defect, and nonlocality is shown to impart a characteristic size to the deformation pattern.

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Matthew R. Kuhn. 2026-09-07. A thermomechanical framework for strongly nonlocal continua. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijengsci.2026.104651

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