On Hamiltonian continuum mechanics

Abstract: Continuum mechanics can be formulated in the Lagrangian frame (addressing motion of individual continuum particles) or in the Eulerian frame (addressing evolution of fields in an inertial frame). There is a canonical Hamiltonian structure in the Lagrangian frame. By transformation to the Eulerian frame we find the Poisson bracket for Eulerian continuum mechanics with deformation gradient (or the related distortion matrix). Both Lagrangian and Eulerian Hamiltonian structures are then discussed from the perspective of space-time variational formulation and by means of semidirect products and Lie algebras. Finally, we discuss the importance of the Jacobi identity in continuum mechanics and approaches to prove hyperbolicity of the evolution equations and their gauge invariance.