Multipolar continuum mechanics

A general theory of multipolar displacement and velocity fields with corresponding multipolar body and surface forces and multipolar stresses is developed using an energy principle, an entropy production inequality and invariance conditions under superposed rigid body motions. Constitutive equations for the multipolar stresses are discussed and explicit results are given for an elastic medium. Work in a previous paper by the present authors (1964) is shown to be a special case of that given here.