On the Flows of Fluids Defined through Implicit Constitutive Relations between the Stress and the Symmetric Part of the Velocity Gradient

Though implicit constitutive relations have been in place for a long time, wherein the stress, the strain (or the symmetric part of the velocity gradient), and their time derivatives have been used to describe the response of viscoelastic and inelastic bodies, it is only recently purely algebraic relationships between the stress and the displacement gradient (or the velocity gradient) have been introduced to describe the response of non-linear fluids and solids. Such models can describe phenomena that the classical theory, wherein the stress is expressed explicitly in terms of kinematical variables, is incapable of describing, and they also present a sensible way to approach important practical problems, such as the flows of colloids and suspensions and the turbulent flows of fluids, and that of the fracture of solids. In this paper we review this new class of algebraic implicit constitutive relations that can be used to describe the response of fluids.