The prerequisite is Elasticity and Lagrangian Systems , replaced by Mathematics for Geophysical Science II for ENV students, which ensures a little prior knowledge of linear elasticity.
Continuum mechanics underpins all theoretical work in both solid and fluid mechanics.
It concerns the deformation and motion of a continuous body, the balance laws and the formulation of constitutive equations, which distinguish one sort of material from another. These general ideas are applied in particular to nonlinear elasticity. Example sheets were handed out containing many examples to support and illustrate the lecture material. Some were set as coursework and detailed solutions to most exercises were handed out. Continuum mechanics is the mechanics of continuous materials, i.e. materials which occupy every point of a continuous region of space.