# Structured Deformations of Continua: Theory and Applications

## TL;DR

This paper reviews the theory of structured deformations of continua, highlighting its unifying approach to elastic, plastic, fracture, and defect behaviors, and discusses recent developments and future research directions.

## Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the structured deformations theory, integrating elastic, plastic, and fracture behaviors within a variational calculus framework.

## Key findings

- Unified framework for elastic, plastic, and fracture behaviors
- Application of variational calculus to structured deformations
- Discussion of future research directions in the field

## Abstract

The scope of this contribution is to present an overview of the theory of structured deformations of continua, together with some applications. Structured deformations aim at being a unified theory in which elastic and plastic behaviours, as well as fractures and defects can be described in a single setting. Since its introduction in the scientific community of rational mechanicists (Del Piero-Owen, ARMA 1993), the theory has been put in the framework of variational calculus (Choksi-Fonseca, ARMA 1997), thus allowing for solution of problems via energy minimization. Some background, three problems and a discussion on future directions are presented.