Some foundational aspects of the constitutive theory of finite elasticity are considered in the case, regarded here as general, when internal kinematical constraints are imposed. The emphasis is on the algebraic-geometric structure induced by constraints. In particular, old and new examples of internal constraints are reviewed, and the material symmetry issue in the presence of constraints is discussed.

We formulate a finite element method for the computation of solutions to an anisotropic phase-field model for a binary alloy. Convergence is proved in the $H^1$-norm. The convergence result holds for anisotropy below a certain threshold value. We present some numerical experiments verifying the theoretical results. For anisotropy below the threshold value we observe optimal order convergence, whereas in the case where the anisotropy is strong the numerical solution to the phase-field equation does not...

Let $F^{\mathrm{p}}\in \mathrm{GL}\left(3\right)$ be the plastic deformation from the multiplicative decomposition in elasto-plasticity. We show that the geometric dislocation density tensor of Gurtin in the form $\mathrm{Curl}\left[F^{\mathrm{p}}\right]·{\left(F^{\mathrm{p}}\right)}^T$ applied to rotations controls the gradient in the sense that pointwise $\forall R\in C^1({ℝ}^3,\mathrm{SO}\left(3\right)):\parallel \mathrm{Curl}\left[R\right]·R^T{\parallel }_{{𝕄}^{3\times 3}}^2\ge \frac{1}{2}{\parallel \mathrm{D}R\parallel }_{{ℝ}^{27}}^2$. This result complements rigidity results [Friesecke, James and Müller, Comme Pure Appl. Math. 55 (2002) 1461–1506; John, Comme Pure Appl. Math. 14 (1961) 391–413; Reshetnyak, Siberian Math. J. 8 (1967) 631–653)] as well as an associated linearized theorem...

Let $F^{\mathrm{p}}\in \mathrm{GL}\left(3\right)$ be the plastic deformation from the multiplicative decomposition in elasto-plasticity. We show that the geometric dislocation density tensor of Gurtin in the form $\mathrm{Curl}\left[F^{\mathrm{p}}\right]·{\left(F^{\mathrm{p}}\right)}^T$ applied to rotations controls the gradient in the sense that pointwise $\forall R\in C^1({ℝ}^3,\mathrm{SO}\left(3\right)):\parallel \mathrm{Curl}\left[R\right]·R^T{\parallel }_{{𝕄}^{3\times 3}}^2\ge \frac{1}{2}{\parallel \mathrm{D}R\parallel }_{{ℝ}^{27}}^2$. This result complements rigidity results [Friesecke, James and Müller, Comme Pure Appl. Math.55 (2002) 1461–1506; John, Comme Pure Appl. Math.14 (1961) 391–413; Reshetnyak, Siberian Math. J.8 (1967) 631–653)] as well as an associated linearized theorem saying...