I want to thank R. L. Fosdick, M. E. Gurtin and W. O. Williams for their detailed criticism of the manuscript. I also thank F. Davi, M. Lembo, P. Nardinocchi and M. Vianello for valuable remarks prompted by their reading of one or another of the many previous drafts, from 1988 to date. Since it has taken me so long to bring this writing to its present form, many other colleagues and students have episodically offered useful comments and caught mistakes: a list would risk to be incomplete, but I am heartily grateful to them all. Finally, I thank V. Nicotra for skillfully transforming my hand...

During its 2004 meeting in Warsaw the General Assembly of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) decided to support a proposal of the Georgian National Committee to hold in Tbilisi (Georgia), on April 23-27, 2007, the IUTAM Symposium on the Relation of Shell, Plate, Beam, and 3D Models, dedicated to the Centenary of Ilia Vekua. The sci- ti?c organization was entrusted to an international committee consisting of Philipppe G. Ciarlet (Hong Kong), the late Anatoly Gerasimovich Gorshkov (Russia), JornHansen(Canada), GeorgeV.Jaiani(Georgia, Chairman), Re- hold...

During its 2004 meeting in Warsaw the General Assembly of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) decided to support a proposal of the Georgian National Committee to hold in Tbilisi (Georgia), on April 23-27, 2007, the IUTAM Symposium on the Relation of Shell, Plate, Beam, and 3D Models, dedicated to the Centenary of Ilia Vekua. The sci- ti?c organization was entrusted to an international committee consisting of Philipppe G. Ciarlet (Hong Kong), the late Anatoly Gerasimovich Gorshkov (Russia), JornHansen(Canada), GeorgeV.Jaiani(Georgia, Chairman), Re- hold...

This book deals in a modern manner with a family of named problems from an old and mature subject, classical elasticity. These problems are formulated over either a half or the whole of a linearly elastic and isotropic two- or three-dimensional space, subject to loads concentrated at points or lines. The discussion of each problem begins with a careful examination of the prevailing symmetries, and proceeds with inverting the canonical order, in that it moves from a search for balanced stress fields to the associated strain and displacement fields. The book, although slim, is fairly well...

This self-contained book presents problems in classical elasticity, tailored for the geotechnician. Each begins with an examination of prevailing symmetries, and moves from a search for balanced stress fields to the associated strain and displacement fields.