The mechanically based non-local elasticity: An overview of main results and future challenges

The mechanically based non-local elasticity has been used, recently, in wider and wider engineering applications involving small-size devices and/or materials with marked microstructures. The key feature of the model involves the presence of nonlocal effects as additional body forces acting on material masses and depending on their relative displacements. An overview of the main results of the theory is reported in this paper.