79

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering 21: 79–80, 2003.

Book Review
Bifurcation and Localisation Theory in Geomechanics. H.-B. Mühlhaus, A. Dyskin,
& E. Pasternak (Eds), 2001, A.A. Balkema, Lisse, ISBN 90-265-1823-4. 380 pp.,
95, $95.

This book is comprised of papers presented at the 5th International Workshop on

Bifurcation and Localisation Theory held in December 1999 in Perth, Australia.
The foreword states that the workshops were started ‘‘ . . . as a forum for the appli-
cation of results and techniques of bifurcation theory to the limit load problems of
geotechnical engineering.’’ There is no mention of this focus in the workshop title,
yet the book title includes ‘‘Geomechanics’’. Few papers in this book present appli-
cations to real geotechnical engineering problems. For a reader searching for theo-
retical developments in geomaterial bifurcation and localization modeling,
however, this book provides a good sampling of some of the innovative efforts ongo-
ing in this field.
The themes of the workshop included, as stated in the foreword, ‘‘ . . . analysis of
localisation and bifurcation phenomena in geo-materials, generalized continuum
theories, constitutive models and numerical techniques . . . ’’. A number of papers
describing various modeling approaches compare their simulations with experimental
data, but there are few that experimentally investigate the underlying physical
mechanisms of localization in geomaterials. Although further progress is needed in
both the experimental and modeling arenas of the geomaterial localization problem,
more representation of experimental efforts at future workshops of this kind would
benefit the advancement of the field.
The book is broken into six sections, with papers listed alphabetically by first
author in each section. Some papers do not address bifurcation theory or localiza-
tion problems and thus seem out of place in the book. The papers are not well orga-
nized as many of them could be categorized under more than one section, which
appears to be a result of the workshop organization as stated in the foreword:
‘‘The structure of the volume mirrors the session themes of the conference’’. Rather
than attempt to describe the intent of papers grouped under each section, it seems
more useful to describe the papers under the following general classes: (1) bifurcated
response models (onset of localization and post-localization response), (2) nonlocal
models (Cosserat continuum models or models with spatial gradients of their inter-
nal state variables), and (3) numerical solutions techniques.
For (1) bifurcated response models (onset of localization and post-localization
response), a number of papers attempt to model the time during the loading history
80 BOOK REVIEW

when localized deformation occurs and how the material in this region behaves after
localization. Some papers use hypoplastic models for their bifurcation analyses while
others use classical elasto-plastic models, both for small and finite strains.
For (2) nonlocal models (Cosserat continuum models or models with spatial
gradients of their internal state variables), a few papers consider regularization of
the localization problem by introducing length scale models. These nonlocal models
do not bifurcate the simulated response but capture the onset of localization and
post-localization response through the triggering of localized deformation by a
material inhomogeneity or inhomogeneous boundary condition. These models
‘‘regularize’’ the problem by ensuring that the governing partial differential equation
(balance of linear momentum, and balance of mass for coupled problems) remains
well-posed. An open question is how to determine the inherent length scale parame-
ters and boundary conditions for these models.
For (3) numerical solutions techniques, a few papers discuss methods for imple-
menting nonlocal models, particle-methods for large deformation analysis without
re-meshing, adaptive re-meshing algorithms for resolving localized deformation,
and partition-of-unity methods for representing discontinuities. Some applications
of these numerical techniques are presented toward the end of the book.
Overall, this book is useful as a sampling of the state of the art in bifurcation and
localization theory for geomechanics. This book is recommended to the researcher
familiar with or working directly in this field, not to the practicing geotechnical
engineer.

Richard A. Regueiro
Sandia National Laboratories,
Livermore, CA, USA