ABSTRACT
The first represents a higher-gradient (“CosseratMindlin”) material (Cosserat & Cosserat 1909; Mindlin 1964), while the second represents a more general, micromorphic (“Mindlin-Green-Rivlin-Eringen”) material (Mindlin 1964; Green & Rivlin 1967; Eringen 1968). By means of the mathematical “fragmentation” of a simple continuum into discontinuous subdomains, Eringen and coworkers (Eringen 1999)
derive micromorphic field theories, which resemble those obtained by various statistical mechanical studies of systems of deformable particles (Eringen 1999). The same type of multipolar balance laws arise even for the simplest case of point-like particles (Goddard 1998).
