Continuum mechanics is the basis for defining and explaining all major forms of mechanical behavior, including stress and strain, elasticity, and plasticity. This classic text has been used for over 30 years to introduce junior- and senior-level undergraduate engineering students, as well as graduate students, to the basic principles of continuum mechanics, including tensors and kinematics. This new edition offers improvements to address evolving teaching methods, with greater flexibility for either one- or two-semester usage, including expanded and improved problem sets and more real-world applications. It is, and will remain, one of the most accessible textbooks on a perennially challenging engineering subject.

W. Michael Lai is Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering and Orthpaedic Bioengineering at Columbia University. He received his Ph.D in Engineering Mechanics in 1962 from the University of Michigan. Between 1962 and 1986, he was a faculty member in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He joined the Columbia faculty in 1987 with a joint appointment between the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. He served as Chairman of the Mechanical Engineering Department from 1996 to 2002 and became Professor Emeritus in 2004. His research field has been in Orthopaedic Bioengineering with a special interest in soft tissue mechanics. He is a Fellow of ASME and a founding Fellow of the American Institute for Biomedical and Biological Engineering (1995).

1. Introduction
2. Tensors
3. Kinematics of a Continuum
4. Stress and Integral Formulations of General Principles
5. The Elastic Solid
6. Newtonian Viscous Fluid
7. The Reynolds Transport Theorem and Applications
8. Non-Newtonian Fluids