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.

This volume constitutes the proceedings of the 1997 IUTAM Symposium, where invited researchers in acoustics, aeronautics, elastodynamics, electromagnetics, hydrodynamics, and mathematics discussed non-reflecting computational boundaries. The participants formulated benchmark problems for evaluating computational boundaries, as described in the first article.

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.

This book presents an introduction into the entire science of Continuum Mechanics in three parts. The presentation is modern and comprehensive. Its introduction into tensors is very gentle. The book contains many examples and exercises, and is intended for scientists, practitioners and students of mechanics.

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.

Civil infrastructure systems are generally the most expensive assets in any country, and these systems are deteriorating at an alarming rate. In addition, these systems have a long service life in comparison to most other commercial products. As well, the introduction of intelligent materials and innovative design approaches in these systems is painfully slow due to heavy relianceon traditional construction and maintenance practices, and the conservative nature of design codes. Feedback on the "state of the health" of constructed systems is practically nonexistent. In the quest for lighter, stronger and corrosion-resistant structures, the replacement of ferrous materials by high-strength fibrous ones is being actively pursued in several countries around the world, both with respect to the design of new structures as well as for the rehabilitation and strengthening of existing ones. In North America, active research in the design of new highway bridges is focused on a number of specialty areas, including the replacement of steel reinforcing bars in concrete deck slabs by randomly distributed low-modulus fibers, and the replacement of steel prestressing cables for concrete components by tendons comprising super-strong fibers. Research is also being conducted on using FRPs to repair and strengthen existing structures.

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.

Compiling the expertise of nine pioneers of the field, Magnetic Bearings - Theory, Design, and Application to Rotating Machinery offers an encyclopedic study of this rapidly emerging field with a balanced blend of commercial and academic perspectives. Every element of the technology is examined in detail, beginning at the component level and proceeding through a thorough exposition of the design and performance of these systems.

The book is organized in a logical fashion, starting with an overview of the technology and a survey of the range of applications. A background chapter then explains the central concepts of active magnetic bearings while avoiding a morass of technical details. From here, the reader continues to a meticulous, state-of-the-art exposition of the component technologies and the manner in which they are assembled to form the AMB/rotor system. These system models and performance objectives are then tied together through extensive discussions of control methods for both rigid and flexible rotors, including consideration of the problem of system dynamics identification. Supporting this, the issues of system reliability and fault management are discussed from several useful and complementary perspectives. At the end of the book, numerous special concepts and systems, including micro-scale bearings, self-bearing motors, and self-sensing bearings, are put forth as promising directions for new research and development.

Newcomers to the field will find the material highly accessible while veteran practitioners will be impressed by the level of technical detail that emerges from a combination of sophisticated analysis and insights gleaned from many collective years of practical experience. An exhaustive, self-contained text on active magnetic bearing technology, this book should be a core reference for anyone seeking to understand or develop systems using magnetic bearings.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The aim of this International Symposium on Dynamics of Vibro-Impact Systems is to provide a forum for the discussion of recent developments in the theory and industrial applications of vibro-impact ocean systems. A special effort has been made to invite active researchers from engineering, science, and applied mathematics communities. This symposium has indeed updated engineers with recent analytical developments of vibro-impact dynamics and at the same time allowed engineers and industrial practitioners to alert mathematicians with their unresolved issues. The symposium was held in Troy, Michigan, during the period October 1-3, 2008. It included 28 presentations grouped as follows: The first group comprises of nine papers dealing with the interaction of ocean systems with slamming waves and floating ice. It also covers related topics such as sloshing-slamming dynamics, and non-smooth dynamics associated with offshore structures. Moreover, it includes control issues pertaining to marine surface vessels. The second group consists of fifteen papers treats the interaction of impact systems with friction and their control, Hertzian contact dynamics, parameter variation in vibro-impact oscillators, random excitation of vibro-impact systems, vibro-impact dampers, oscillators with a bouncing ball, limiting phase trajectory corresponding to energy exchange between the oscillator and external source, frequency-energy distribution in oscillators with impacts, and discontinuity mapping. The third group is covered in four papers and addresses some industrial applications such as hand-held percussion machines, rub-impact dynamics of rotating machinery, impact fatigue in joint structures.

Structure-Borne Sound" is a thorough introduction to structural vibrations with emphasis on audio frequencies and the associated radiation of sound. The book presents in-depth discussions of fundamental principles and basic problems, in order to enable the reader to understand and solve his own problems. It includes chapters dealing with measurement and generation of vibrations and sound, various types of structural wave motion, structural damping and its effects, impedances and vibration responses of the important types of structures, as well as with attenuation of vibrations, and sound radiation from structures. For the third edition, the author fundamentally revised and newly organized the contents of the work. Nevertheless, the intention has been to preserve the style of the previous editions, namely to focus on the fundamentals enabling the reader to analyse further problems.

Mechanics and Control of Soft-fingered Manipulation introduces a new approach to the modeling of fingertips that have a soft pad and a hard back plate, similar to human fingers. Starting from the observation of soft-fingered grasping and manipulation, the book provides a parallel distributed model that takes into account tangential deformation of the fingertips. The model is supported with many experimental verifications and simulation results. Statics and dynamics in soft-fingered grasping and manipulation are also formulated based on this new model. The book uniquely investigates how soft fingertips with hard back plates enhance dexterity in grasping and manipulation, theoretically and experimentally, revealing the differences between soft-fingered and rigid-fingered manipulation. Researchers involved in object manipulation by robotic hands, as well as in human dexterity in object manipulation, will find this text enlightening.

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.

Parametric Resonance in Dynamical Systems discusses the phenomenon of parametric resonance and its occurrence in mechanical systems, vehicles, motorcycles, aircraft and marine craft, along micro-electro-mechanical systems. The contributors provides an introduction to the root causes of this phenomenon and its mathematical equivalent, the Mathieu-Hill equation. Also included is a discussion of how parametric resonance occurs on ships and offshore systems, and its frequency in mechanical and electrical systems. This volume is ideal for researchers and mechanical engineers working in application fields such as MEMS, maritime, aircraft and ground vehicle engineering.

"Nonlinear Oscillations in Mechanical Engineering" explores the effects of nonlinearities encountered in applications in that field. Since the nonlinearities are caused, first of all, by contacts between different mechanical parts, the main part of this book is devoted to oscillations in mechanical systems with discontinuities caused by dry friction and collisions. Another important source of nonlinearity which is covered is that caused by rotating unbalanced parts common in various machines as well as variable inertias occurring in all kinds of crank mechanisms. This book is written for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students, but it may be also helpful and interesting for both theoreticians and practitioners working in the area of mechanical engineering at universities, in research labs or institutes and especially in the R and D departments within industrial firms.

The 1960s were perhaps a decade of confusion, when scientists faced d- culties in dealing with imprecise information and complex dynamics. A new set theory and then an in?nite-valued logic of Lot? A. Zadeh were so c- fusing that they were called fuzzy set theory and fuzzy logic; a deterministic system found by E. N. Lorenz to have random behaviours was so unusual that it was lately named a chaotic system. Just like irrational and imaginary numbers, negative energy, anti-matter, etc., fuzzy logic and chaos were gr- ually and eventually accepted by many, if not all, scientists and engineers as fundamental concepts, theories, as well as technologies. In particular, fuzzy systems technology has achieved its maturity with widespread applications in many industrial, commercial, and technical ?elds, ranging from control, automation, and arti?cial intelligence to image/signal processing, patternrecognition, andelectroniccommerce.Chaos, ontheother hand, wasconsideredoneofthethreemonumentaldiscoveriesofthetwentieth century together with the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. As a very special nonlinear dynamical phenomenon, chaos has reached its current outstanding status from being merely a scienti?c curiosity in the mid-1960s to an applicable technology in the late 1990s. Finding the intrinsic relation between fuzzy logic and chaos theory is certainlyofsigni?cantinterestandofpotentialimportance.Thepast20years have indeed witnessed some serious explorations of the interactions between fuzzylogicandchaostheory, leadingtosuchresearchtopicsasfuzzymodeling of chaotic systems using Takagi-Sugeno models, linguistic descriptions of chaotic systems, fuzzy control of chaos, and a combination of fuzzy control technology and chaos theory for various engineering pract

In this edited book various novel approaches to problems of modern civil engineering are demonstrated. Experts associated within the Lagrange Laboratory present recent research results in civil engineering dealing both with modelling and computational aspects. Many modern topics are covered, such as monumental dams, soil mechanics and geotechnics, granular media, contact and friction problems, damage and fracture, new structural materials, and vibration damping - presenting the state of the art of mechanical modelling and computational issues in civil engineering.

Books like their authors have their destinies. This book for the most part couldhavebeenwrittenearlier, butithappenedtobereleasedaslateasthe 21stcentury.Itisbasedonthenumerousfundamentalstudiesofmyteacher Kamil Sh. Khodzhaev. His disease prevented him from implementing his ideas in the form that he had been contemplating for years. It was me who tried to convey his concepts and ideas with the least possible distortions. This book contains a number of solutions worked out by Kamil Sh. Khodzhaev himself as well as problems solved by the authors jointly or separately. Kamil Sh. Khodzhaev founded St. Petersburg school of electromech- ics, with the focus on mechanics as a part, however distinctive, of general analytical mechanics, having been inspired by the desire of our common Teacher Anatoly I. Lurie "to set order" in this signi?cant branch of s- ence. Khodzhaev'sschoolhasmanyfollowers andtheirworkisanintegral part of the book. Some original ideas and studies of our colleagues are provided with footnotes in the corresponding sections while Chapter 6 dealing with the motion of the charged particle in electromagnetic ?eld was written in cooperation with another co-author Alexander G. Chirkov.

This book presents up-to-date knowledge of dynamic analysis and its applications in engineering world. It covers the relevant topics in analytical, numerical and experimental aspects. To facilitate the understanding of the topics by readers with various backgrounds, general principles are linked to their applications from different angles. Special interesting topics such as statistics of motions and dynamic loading, damping modeling and measurement, nonlinear dynamics, finite element analysis, computer systems for calculation efficiency, structural health monitoring and human body vibrations etc., are also presented. The target readers include industry professionals in civil, marine and mechanical engineering as well as researchers and students in this area.

"Neural Network-Based State Estimation of Nonlinear Systems" presents efficient, easy to implement neural network schemes for state estimation, system identification, and fault detection and Isolation with mathematical proof of stability, experimental evaluation, and Robustness against unmolded dynamics, external disturbances, and measurement noises.