Multiscale Approach to a Basic problem of Materials Mechanics (Propagation of Phase-transition Fronts)

Various routes to the understanding of the propagation of phase-transition fronts in crystalline substances are examined in the light of recent works. These include lattice dynamics, mesoscopic considerations, and the fully macroscopic thermomechanical approach on the material manifold that combines an engineering interest with an invariance-theoretical viewpoint. Numerical approaches (FDM, FEM, FVM, continuous-cellular automata) corresponding to these different levels of apprehending a single phenomenon are also discussed