The coupling of models from different physical domains and the efficient and reliable simulation of multidisciplinary problems in engineering applications are important topics for various fields of engineering, in simulation technology and in the development and analysis of numerical solvers.

The volume presents advanced modelling and simulation techniques for the dynamical analysis of coupled engineering systems consisting of mechanical, electrical, hydraulic and biological components as well as control devices often based on computer hardware and software. The book starts with some basics in multibody dynamics and in port-based modelling and focuses on the modelling and simulation of heterogeneous systems with special emphasis on robust and efficient numerical solution techniques and on a variety of applied problems including case studies of co-simulation in industrial applications, methods and problems of model based controller design and real-time application.

During its 2004 meeting in Warsaw the General Assembly of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) decided to support a proposal of the Georgian National Committee to hold in Tbilisi (Georgia), on April 23-27, 2007, the IUTAM Symposium on the Relation of Shell, Plate, Beam, and 3D Models, dedicated to the Centenary of Ilia Vekua. The sci- ti?c organization was entrusted to an international committee consisting of Philipppe G. Ciarlet (Hong Kong), the late Anatoly Gerasimovich Gorshkov (Russia),JornHansen(Canada),GeorgeV.Jaiani(Georgia,Chairman),Re- hold Kienzler (Germany), Herbert A. Mang (Austria), Paolo Podio-Guidugli (Italy), and Gangan Prathap (India). The main topics to be included in the scienti?c programme were c- sen to be: hierarchical, re?ned mathematical and technical models of shells, plates, and beams; relation of 2D and 1D models to 3D linear, non-linear and physical models; junction problems. The main aim of the symposium was to thoroughly discuss the relations of shell, plate, and beam models to the 3D physicalmodels.Inparticular,peculiaritiesofcuspedshells,plates,andbeams were to be emphasized and special attention paid to junction, multibody and ? uid-elastic shell (plate, beam) interaction problems, and their applications. The expected contributions of the invited participants were anticipated to be theoretical, practical, and numerical in character.

Modern technical advancements in areas such as robotics, multi-body systems, spacecraft, control, and design of complex mechanical devices and mechanisms in industry require the knowledge to solve advanced concepts in dynamics. "Mechanisms and Robots Analysis with MATLAB" provides a thorough, rigorous presentation of kinematics and dynamics. The book uses MATLAB as a tool to solve problems from the field of mechanisms and robots. The book discusses the tools for formulating the mathematical equations, and also the methods of solving them using a modern computing tool like MATLAB. An emphasis is placed on basic concepts, derivations, and interpretations of the general principles. The book is of great benefit to senior undergraduate and graduate students interested in the classical principles of mechanisms and robotics systems. Each chapter introduction is followed by a careful step-by-step presentation, and sample problems are provided at the end of every chapter.

Well-written, practice-oriented textbook, and compact textbook

Presents the contemporary state of the art of control theory and its applications

Introduces traditional problems that are useful in the automatic control of technical processes, plus

presents current issues of control

Explains methods can be easily applied for the determination of the decision algorithms in computer control and management systems

This book explains why complex systems research is important in understanding the structure, function and dynamics of complex natural and social phenomena. It illuminates how complex collective behavior emerges from the parts of a system, due to the interaction between the system and its environment. Readers will learn the basic concepts and methods of complex system research. The book is not highly technical mathematically, but teaches and uses the basic mathematical notions of dynamical system theory, making the book useful for students of science majors and graduate courses.

This application-oriented monograph focuses on a novel and complex type of control systems. Written on an engineering level, including fundamentals, advanced methods and applications, the book applies techniques originating from new methods such as artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic, neural networks etc.

The basic principles guiding sensing, perception and action in bio systems seem to rely on highly organised spatial-temporal dynamics. In fact, all biological senses, (visual, hearing, tactile, etc.) process signals coming from different parts distributed in space and also show a complex time evolution. As an example, mammalian retina performs a parallel representation of the visual world embodied into layers, each of which r- resents a particular detail of the scene. These results clearly state that visual perception starts at the level of the retina, and is not related uniquely to the higher brain centres. Although vision remains the most useful sense guiding usual actions, the other senses, ?rst of all hearing but also touch, become essential particularly in cluttered conditions, where visual percepts are somehow obscured by environment conditions. Ef?cient use of hearing can be learnt from acoustic perception in animals/insects, like crickets, that use this ancient sense more than all the others, to perform a vital function, like mating.

"Analytical System Dynamics: Modeling and Simulation" combines results from analytical mechanics and system dynamics to develop an approach to modeling constrained multidiscipline dynamic systems. This combination yields a modeling technique based on the energy method of Lagrange, which in turn, results in a set of differential-algebraic equations that are suitable for numerical integration. Using the modeling approach presented in this book enables one to model and simulate systems as diverse as a six-link, closed-loop mechanism or a transistor power amplifier.

Multibody Dynamics is an area of Computational Mechanics which blends together various disciplines such as structural dynamics, multi-physics - chanics, computational mathematics, control theory and computer science, in order to deliver methods and tools for the virtual prototyping of complex mechanical systems. Multibody dynamics plays today a central role in the modeling, analysis, simulation and optimization of mechanical systems in a variety of ?elds and for a wide range of industrial applications. The ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics was ini- ated in Lisbon in 2003, and then continued in Madrid in 2005 with the goal of providing researchers in Multibody Dynamics with appropriate venues for exchanging ideas and results. The third edition of the Conference was held at the Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy, from June 25 to June 28, 2007. The Conference saw the participation of over 250 researchers from 32 di?- ent countries, presenting 209 technical papers, and proved to be an excellent forum for discussion and technical exchange on the most recent advances in this rapidly growing ?eld.

Thank heavens for Jens Wittenburg, of the University of Karlsruhe in Germany. Anyone who 's been laboring for years over equation after equation will want to give him a great big hug. It is common practice to develop equations for each system separately and to consider the labor necessary for deriving all of these as inevitable. Not so, says the author. Here, he takes it upon himself to describe in detail a formalism which substantially simplifies these tasks.

Motion and vibration control is a fundamental technology for the development of advanced mechanical systems such as mechatronics, vehicle systems, robots, spacecraft, and rotating machinery. Often the implementation of high performance, low power consumption designs is only possible with the use of this technology. It is also vital to the mitigation of natural hazards for large structures such as high-rise buildings and tall bridges, and to the application of flexible structures such as space stations and satellites. Recent innovations in relevant hardware, sensors, actuators, and software have facilitated new research in this area. This book deals with the interdisciplinary aspects of emerging technologies of motion and vibration control for mechanical, civil and aerospace systems. It covers a broad range of applications (e.g. vehicle dynamics, actuators, rotor dynamics, biologically inspired mechanics, humanoid robot dynamics and control, etc.) and also provides advances in the field of fundamental research e.g. control of fluid/structure integration, nonlinear control theory, etc. Each of the contributors is a recognised specialist in his field, and this gives the book relevance and authority in a wide range of areas.

In this book a detailed and systematic treatment of asymptotic methods in the theory of plates and shells is presented. The main features of the book are the basic principles of asymptotics and their applications, traditional approaches such as regular and singular perturbations, as well as new approaches such as the composite equations approach. The book introduces the reader to the field of asymptotic simplification of the problems of the theory of plates and shells and will be useful as a handbook of methods of asymptotic integration. Providing a state-of-the-art review of asymptotic applications, this book will be useful as an introduction to the field for novices as well as a reference book for specialists.

This is a self-contained introduction to algebraic control for nonlinear systems suitable for researchers and graduate students. It is the first book dealing with the linear-algebraic approach to nonlinear control systems in such a detailed and extensive fashion. It provides a complementary approach to the more traditional differential geometry and deals more easily with several important characteristics of nonlinear systems.

Intelligent Mobile Robot Navigation builds upon the application of fuzzy logic to the area of intelligent control of mobile robots. Reactive, planned, and teleoperated techniques are considered, leading to the development of novel fuzzy control systems for perception and navigation of nonholonomic autonomous vehicles. The unique feature of this monograph lies in its comprehensive treatment of the problem, from the theoretical development of the various schemes down to the real-time implementation of algorithms on mobile robot prototypes. As such, the book spans different domains ranging from mobile robots to intelligent transportation systems, from automatic control to artificial intelligence.

Besides turbulence, there is hardly any other scientific topic which has been considered a prominent scientific challenge for such a long time. The special interest in turbulence is not only based on it being a difficult scientific problem but also on its meaning in the technical world and our daily life. This carefully edited book comprises recent basic research as well as research related to the applications of turbulence. Therefore, both leading engineers and physicists working in the field of turbulence were invited to the iTi Conference on Turbulence held in Bad Zwischenahn, Gemany 21st - 24th of September 2003. Topics discussed include, for example, scaling laws and intermittency, thermal convection, boundary layers at large Reynolds numbers, isotropic turbulence, stochastic processes, passive and active scalars, coherent structures, numerical simulations, and related subjects.

Computational kinematics is an enthralling area of science with a rich spectrum of problems at the junction of mechanics, robotics, computer science, mathematics, and computer graphics. The present book collects up-to-date methods as presented during the Fifth International Workshop on Computational Kinematics (CK2009) held at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. The covered topics include design and optimization of cable-driven robots, analysis of parallel manipulators, motion planning, numerical methods for mechanism calibration and optimization, geometric approaches to mechanism analysis and design, synthesis of mechanisms, kinematical issues in biomechanics, balancing and construction of novel mechanical devices, detection and treatment of singularities, as well as computational methods for gear design. The results should be of interest for practicing and research engineers as well as Ph.D. students from the fields of mechanical and electrical engineering, computer science, and computer graphics.

Mechanics provides the link between mathematics and practical engineering app- cations. It is one of the oldest sciences, and many famous scientists have left and will leave their mark in this fascinating ?eld of research. Perhaps one of the most prominentscientists in mechanics was Sir Isaac Newton, who with his "laws of - tion" initiated the description of mechanical systems by differential equations. And still today, more than 300 years after Newton, this mathematical concept is more actual than ever. The rising computer power and the development of numerical solvers for diff- ential equations allowed engineersall over the world to predict the behavior of their physical systems fast and easy in an numerical way. And the trend to computational simulation methods is still further increasing, not only in mechanics, but practically in all branches of science. Numerical simulation will probablynot solve the world's engineering problems, but it will help for a better understanding of the mechanisms of our models.

Periodic Systems gives a comprehensive treatment of the theory of periodic systems, including the problems of filtering and control. Topics covered include: basic issues, including Floquet theory, controllability and observability, canonical decomposition, system norms and Lyapunov and robust stability; the problem of state estimation in its various forms, filtering, prediction and smoothing; control design methods, particularly optimal and robust control. The text focuses on discrete-time signals and systems; however, an overview of the entire field, including the continuous-time case, is provided in the first chapter. The authors presentation of the theory and results is mathematically rigorous while maintaining a readable style, avoiding excessive formalism. This makes the book accessible to graduate students and researchers from the fields of engineering, physics, economics and mathematics.

Based on a long engineering experience, this book offers a comprehensive and state-of-the-art analysis of aerodynamic and flight mechanic entry topics. This updated edition had new chapters on Re-entry on Mars mission, flight quality, rarefied aerodynamics and re-entry accuracy. In addition, it provides a large set of application exercises and solutions.

This text is well-designed with respect to the exposition from the preliminary to the more advanced and the applications interwoven throughout. It provides the essential foundations for the theory as well as the basic facts relating to almost periodicity. In six structured and self-contained chapters, the author unifies the treatment of various classes of almost periodic functions, while uniquely addressing oscillations and waves in the almost periodic case.

This is the first text to present the latest results in almost periodic oscillations and waves. The presentation level and inclusion of several clearly presented proofs make this work ideal for graduate students in engineering and science. The concept of almost periodicity is widely applicable to continuuum mechanics, electromagnetic theory, plasma physics, dynamical systems, and astronomy, which makes the book a useful tool for mathematicians and physicists.

This volume treats Lagrange equations for electromechanical systems, including piezoelectric transducers and selected applications. It is essentially an extension to piezoelectric systems of the work by Crandall et al.: "Dynamics of Mechanical and Electromechanical Systems," published in 1968. The first three chapters contain classical material based on this and other well known standard texts in the field. Some applications are new and include material not published in a monograph before.

Adaptive structural systems in conjunction with multifunctional materials facilitate technical solutions with a wide spectrum of applications and a high degree of integration. By virtue of combining the actuation and sensing capabilities of piezoelectric materials with the advantages of fiber composites, the anisotropic constitutive properties may be tailored according to requirements and the failure behavior can be improved. Such adaptive fiber composites are very well-suited for the task of noise and vibration reduction. In this respect the helicopter rotor system represents a very interesting and widely perceptible field of application. The occurring oscillations can be reduced with aid of aerodynamic couplings via fast manipulation of the angle of attack, being induced by twist actuation of the rotor blade. On the one hand the sensing properties may be used to determine the current state of deformation, while on the other hand the actuation properties may be used to attain the required state of deformation. The implementation of such concepts requires comprehensive knowledge of the theoretical context, which shall be illuminated in the work at hand from the examination of the material behavior to the simulation of the rotating structure.

Research of discrete event systems is strongly motivated by applications in flex ible manufacturing, in traffic control and in concurrent and real-time software verification and design, just to mention a few important areas. Discrete event system theory is a promising and dynamically developing area of both control theory and computer science. Discrete event systems are systems with non-numerically-valued states, inputs, and outputs. The approaches to the modelling and control of these systems can be roughly divided into two groups. The first group is concerned with the automatic design of controllers from formal specifications of logical requirements. This re search owes much to the pioneering work of P.J. Ramadge and W.M. Wonham at the beginning of the eighties. The second group deals with the analysis and op timization of system throughput, waiting time, and other performance measures for discrete event systems. The present book contains selected papers presented at the Joint Workshop on Discrete Event Systems (WODES'92) held in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on Au gust 26-28, 1992 and organized by the Institute of Information Theory and Au tomation of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechoslovakia, by the Automatic Control Laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland, and by the Department of Computing Science of the University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands."

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This monograph addresses the systematic representation of the methods of analysis developed by the authors as applied to such systems. Particular features of dynamic processes in such systems are studied. Special attention is given to an analysis of different resonant phenomena taking unusual and diverse forms.