This is the first part of a two-part paper dedicated to a new plate theory for out-of-plane loaded thick plates where the static unknowns are those of the Kirchhoff-Love theory (3 in-plane stresses and 3 bending moments), to which six components are added representing the gradient of the bending moment. The new theory, called the Bending-Gradient plate theory is described in the present paper. ...

The incorporation of higher order strain gradients into the constitutive equations of continuum damage mechanics is presented. Thereby, not only scalar-valued isotropic damage models but also anisotropic damage models allowing for directional dependent sti€ness degradation are elaborated. An elegant possibility of describing anisotropic material behavior based on the microplane theory is demons...

High-resolution grating x-ray diffraction from a periodic quantum-wire structure is shown to be highly sensitive to strain-field variations near a surface or an interface. Information on two types of strain gradients can be obtained: a longitudinal gradient, which can produce asymmetric diffraction profiles, and a transverse gradient, which can generate additional diffuse intensity streaks in r...

Phosphorene is a two-dimensional nanomaterial with a direct band-gap at the Brillouin zone center. In this paper, we present a recently derived effective-mass theory of the band structure in the presence of strain and electric field, based upon group theory. Band parameters for this theory are computed using a first-principles theory based upon the generalized-gradient approximation to the dens...

Using the tool of two-scale convergence, we provide a rigorous mathematical setting for the homogenization result obtained by Fleck and Willis (J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 2004) concerning the effective plastic behaviour of a strain gradient composite material. Moreover, moving from deformation theory to flow theory, we prove a convergence result for the homogenization of quasistatic evolutions in t...