This book is based on a series of lectures delivered over the years by the author at the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, at the University of Stuttgart, and at City University of Hong Kong. Its two-fold aim is to provide a thorough introduction to the basic theorems of differential geometry and to elasticity in curvilinear coordinates and shell theory.
To this end, the fundamental existence and uniqueness theorems are proved in great details. Such theorems include the fundamental theorem of surface theory, which asserts that the Gauss and Codazzi-Mainardi equations are sufficient for the existence of a surface with prescribed fundamental forms, as well as the corresponding rigidity theorem. Recent results, which have not yet appeared in book form are also included, such as the continuity of a surface as a function of its fundamental forms.
This book also provides a detailed description of the equations of nonlinear and linearized elasticity in curvilinear coordinates, together with a direct proof of the three-dimensional Korn inequality in curvilinear coordinates. The book also includes a detailed description of Koiter's equations for nonlinearly and linearly elastic shells, a complete analysis of the existence, uniqueness, and regularity of the solutions of Koiter's equations in the linear case.
The treatment is essentially self-contained and proofs are complete. In particular, no a priori knowledge of diferential geometry or elasticity theory or shell theory is assumed. Another highlight of this book is the focus on the interplay between "theoretical" and "applied" differential geometry. For instance, rather than being introduced in a formal way, covariant derivatives of a tensor field appear in a natural way in the course of the derivation of the basic boundary value problems of nonlinear elasticity in curvilinear coordinates and of shell theory.