This monograph deals with the behavior of essentially nonlinear heterogeneous materials in
processes occurring under intense dynamic loading where microstructural effects play the main
role. This book is not an introduction to the dynamic behavior of materials and general
information available in other books is not included. The material herein is presented in a
form I hope will make it useful not only for researchers working in related areas but also for
graduate students. I used it successfully to teach a course on the dynamic behavior of
materials at the University of California San Diego. Another course well suited to the topic
may be nonlinear wave dynamics in solids especially the part on strongly nonlinear waves.
About 100 problems presented in the book at the end of each chapter will help the reader to
develop a deeper understanding of the subject. I tried to follow a few rules in writing this
book: (1) To focus on strongly nonlinear phenomena where there is no small parameter with
respect to the amplitude of disturbance including solitons shock waves and localized shear.
(2) To take into account phenomena sensitive to materials structure where typical space scale
of material parameters (particle size cell size) are presented in the models or are variable
in experimental research.
