Conservation laws for multiphase fracturing materials.

A defect is simulated as an abrupt change of elastic properties in the material and the conservation laws, discovered by Knowles and Sternberg, are deduced and extended on the basis of a general formula for the dissipation, associated with the propagation of elastic phase transition fronts, recently contributed. Moreover, by removing the assumptions of a homogeneous elastic medium, under homogeneous anelastic deformation and no body forces, further invariance conditions, suitable for the evaluation of the dissipation associated with an evolving defect, are provided.