It has been known in physics for quite some time that the configuration spaces of physical phenomena, in general, are not linear, i.e. Euclidean, and instead they are manifolds (finite or infinite dimensional). Modeling physical theories on manifolds has been pursued for several decades in the theoretical physics literature and ideas from differential geometry have led to many profound advances in physics, the most celebrated one being Einstein’s general theory of relativity. In engineering, and in particular in mechanics, manifold theory has not been appreciated perhaps mainly because engineering scientists have been involved in solving many specific technological problems in the last few decades and this has forced them to work with the simplest possible mathematical models. This need of working with simple models formulated in Euclidean spaces has resulted in a disconnect between different methods and a lack of deep understanding of the connections between different numerical methods, structure of governing equations of discrete and continuous systems, etc. One of Dr. Yavari’s interests is to use ideas and techniques from differential geometry, exterior calculus, and algebraic topology in several problems in continuum and discrete mechanics in order to advance the understanding of different aspects of mechanics of continuous and discrete systems and their connections, differences and similarities.
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