"The term creep of metals is applied to the phenomenon in which, at temperatures beyond a certain limit, the metal subjected to a load slowly undergoes deformation with time. Very slow deformations for a prolonged period are cumulative and lead either to inadmissible changes in the dimensions of a structural part or to its failure. The theory of creep constitutes part of the mechanics of dense media and the mechanical formulation of the problem may be given as the following: a body is subjected to the action of a given system of forces, or initial displacements are prescribed on its surface" (p. 1).