ABSTRACT
The concept of local rotation at a point in a deforming body during its motion is quite different from that of intrinsic rigid body motion. This chapter main discusses the S-R decomposition theorem which is compatible in strain and rotation. It introduces the application of the S-R theorem to large deformation analyses in mining and geological problems. The field theory of modern mechanics contains two main parts: the first part is the geometrical field theory about the continuum; the second is the material field theory about the changes of physical properties of a continuum. Local rotation and strain are objective geometric quantities and are regardless of their reference frame; tensorial equations show this property. Tectonic movements such as folding, faulting, jointing, and cleavage, by which earth and rock mass are structurally disturbed, give rise to mass displacement deformations. Stress concentration phenomenon has apparently been observed, which is congruous with the results of the three-dimensional program.
