Introduction

This monograph is based on research undertaken by the authors during the last ten years. The main part of the work deals with homogenization problems in elasticity as well as some mathematical problems related to composite and perforated elastic materials. This study of processes in strongly non-homogeneous media brings forth a large number of purely mathematical problems which are very important for applications.

Although the methods suggested deal with stationary problems, some of them can be extended to non-stationary equations. With the exception of some well-known facts from functional analysis and the theory of partial differential equations, all results in this book are given detailed mathematical proof.

It is expected that the results and methods presented in this book will promote further investigation of mathematical models for processes in composite and perforated media, heat-transfer, energy transfer by radiation, processes of diffusion and filtration in porous media, and that they will stimulate research in other problems of mathematical physics and the theory of partial differential equations.