Foundations of the Clausius-Duhem Inequality

Abstract

To some extent modern continuum thermodynamics amounts to a collection of “thermodynamical theories” sharing common premises and common methodology. There are theories of elastic materials, of viscous materials, of materials with memory, of mixtures, and so on. It is generally the case that, in the context of each theory, one considers all processes (compatible with classical conservation laws) that bodies composed of the prescribed material might admit, and, moreover, one supposes that there exists for the theory a “Clausius-Duhem inequality”.