The use of the teleparallelism connection in continuum mechanics

Abstract

The geometry of parallelizable manifolds (i.e., teleparallelism) is summarized in the language of local frame fields. Some problems in continuum mechanics that relate to the couple-stresses that are produced in the bending and twisting of prismatic beams and wires are then discussed. It is then shown that by going to a higher-dimensional analogue of the geometry that one used for one-dimensional deformable objects, one is basically using the methods of teleparallelism in the context of the Cosserat approach to deformable bodies.