Vladimir Babitsky was born before the Second World War and migrated West after Perestroika. The theory of vibro-impact systems that he developed helped create the world's safest jackhammer and other record-breaking machines. The author has lived through a series of fascinating epochs: experiencing life under totalitarianism, witnessing the Soviet Union's collapse, and then migrating to Europe as a specialist in his field. "On the Waves of a Pulsating World" is an animated and highly engaging story about the journey of an engineer; from childhood daydreams to creating new technologies, from East to West, and from concepts to realities. It is also the story of people who outshine authoritarianism.

What follows is my personal perspective on early events that played a signi?cant role in the formation of the ?eld now known as Smart Structures. It is by no means meant to be all inclusive or de?nitive in any way, but merely an account of personal experiences that ultimately lead to the development of the material contained and presented herein. On March 23, 1983 then President Ronald Reagan announced his intentions to develop a new system to reduce the threat of nuclear attack and end the strategy of mutual deterrence in an address to the nation entitled, Address to the Nation on Defense and National Security. The system he proposed became known as "Star Wars," after the popular movie, because it was meant to provide a protective shield over the nation from space. His speech mobilized the entire nation on a research and development path toward this end. Investigations were conducted into new areas such as space based radar, large aperture antennae and large ?exible mirror concepts. These proposed systems r- resented an entirely new class of structures that proved to provide new challenges in materials, structures, control systems and modeling. For example antennae needed to monitor large areas of real estate in the continental United States required ap- tures on the order of 100 m.

This book offers the first systematic account of canard cycles, an intriguing phenomenon in the study of ordinary differential equations. The canard cycles are treated in the general context of slow-fast families of two-dimensional vector fields. The central question of controlling the limit cycles is addressed in detail and strong results are presented with complete proofs. In particular, the book provides a detailed study of the structure of the transitions near the critical set of non-isolated singularities. This leads to precise results on the limit cycles and their bifurcations, including the so-called canard phenomenon and canard explosion. The book also provides a solid basis for the use of asymptotic techniques. It gives a clear understanding of notions like inner and outer solutions, describing their relation and precise structure. The first part of the book provides a thorough introduction to slow-fast systems, suitable for graduate students. The second and third parts will be of interest to both pure mathematicians working on theoretical questions such as Hilbert's 16th problem, as well as to a wide range of applied mathematicians looking for a detailed understanding of two-scale models found in electrical circuits, population dynamics, ecological models, cellular (FitzHugh-Nagumo) models, epidemiological models, chemical reactions, mechanical oscillators with friction, climate models, and many other models with tipping points.

The book describes analytical methods (based primarily on classical modal synthesis), the Finite Element Method (FEM), Boundary Element Method (BEM), Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA), Energy Finite Element Analysis (EFEA), Hybrid Methods (FEM-SEA and Transfer Path Analysis), and Wave-Based Methods. The book also includes procedures for designing noise and vibration control treatments, optimizing structures for reduced vibration and noise, and estimating the uncertainties in analysis results. Written by several well-known authors, each chapter includes theoretical formulations, along with practical applications to actual structural-acoustic systems. Readers will learn how to use vibroacoustic analysis methods in product design and development; how to perform transient, frequency (deterministic and random), and statistical vibroacoustic analyses; and how to choose appropriate structural and acoustic computational methods for their applications. The book can be used as a general reference for practicing engineers, or as a text for a technical short course or graduate course.

Research in vibration response control deals not only with prevention of catastrophic failures of structures during natural or accidental/manmade hazards but also ensures the comfort of occupants through serviceability. Therefore, the focus of this book is on the theory of dynamic response control of structures by using different kinds of passive vibration control devices. The strategies used for controlling displacement, velocity, and acceleration response of structures such as buildings, bridges, and liquid storage tanks under the action of dynamic loads emanating from earthquake, wind, wave, and so forth are detailed. The book: Explains fundamentals of vibration response control devices and their practical applications in response mitigation of structures exposed to earthquake, wind, and wave loading Offers a comprehensive overview of each passive damper, its functioning, and mathematical modeling in a dynamical system Covers practical aspects of employing the passive control devices to some of the benchmark problems that are developed from existing buildings and bridges in different countries worldwide Includes MATLAB (R) codes for determining the dynamic response of single degree of freedom (SDOF) and multi-degree of freedom (MDOF) systems along with computational models of the passive control devices This book is aimed at senior undergraduate students, graduate students, and researchers in civil, earthquake, aerospace, automotive, mechanical engineering, engineering dynamics, and vibration control, including structural engineers, architects, designers, manufacturers, and other professionals.

This volume comprises the communications presented at the ETC 11, the EUROMECH European Turbulence conference held in 2007 in Porto.

The scientific committee has chosen the contributions out of the following topics: Acoustics of turbulent flows; Atmospheric turbulence; Control of turbulent flows; Geophysical and astrophysical turbulence; Instability and transition; Intermittency and scaling; Large eddy simulation and related techniques; MHD turbulence; Reacting and compressible turbulence; Transport and mixing; Turbulence in multiphase and non-Newtonian flows; Vortex dynamics and structure formation; Wall bounded flows.

Qualitative Analysis of Nonsmooth Dynamics: A Simple Discrete System with Unilateral Contact and Coulomb Friction explores the effects of small and large deformations to understand how shocks, sliding, and stick phases affect the trajectories of mechanical systems. By analyzing these non-regularities successively this work explores the set of equilibria and properties of periodic solutions of elementary mechanical systems, where no classical results issued from the theory of ordinary differential equations are readily available, such as stability, continuation or approximation of solutions. The authors focus on unilateral contact in presence of Coulomb friction and show, in particular, how any regularization would greatly simplify the mathematics but lead to unacceptable physical responses.

This book demonstrates how to formulate the equations of mechanical systems. Providing methods of analysis of complex mechanical systems, the book has a clear focus on efficiency, equipping the reader with knowledge of algorithms that provide accurate results in reduced simulation time. The book uses Kane's method due to its efficiency, and the simple resulting equations it produces in comparison to other methods and extends it with algorithms such as order-n. Kane's method compensates for the errors of premature linearization, which are often inherent within vibrations modes found in a great deal of public domain software. Describing how to build mathematical models of multibody systems with elastic components, the book applies this to systems such as construction cranes, trailers, helicopters, spacecraft, tethered satellites, and underwater vehicles. It also looks at topics such as vibration, rocket dynamics, simulation of beams, deflection, and matrix formulation. Flexible Multibody Dynamics will be of interest to students in mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, applied mechanics and dynamics. It will also be of interest to industry professionals in aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering and construction engineering.

This book offers up novel research which uses analytical approaches to explore nonlinear features exhibited by various dynamic processes. Relevant to disciplines across engineering and physics, the asymptotic method combined with the multiple scale method is shown to be an efficient and intuitive way to approach mechanics. Beginning with new material on the development of cutting-edge asymptotic methods and multiple scale methods, the book introduces this method in time domain and provides examples of vibrations of systems. Clearly written throughout, it uses innovative graphics to exemplify complex concepts such as nonlinear stationary and nonstationary processes, various resonances and jump pull-in phenomena. It also demonstrates the simplification of problems through using mathematical modelling, by employing the use of limiting phase trajectories to quantify nonlinear phenomena. Particularly relevant to structural mechanics, in rods, cables, beams, plates and shells, as well as mechanical objects commonly found in everyday devices such as mobile phones and cameras, the book shows how each system is modelled, and how it behaves under various conditions. It will be of interest to engineers and professionals in mechanical engineering and structural engineering, alongside those interested in vibrations and dynamics. It will also be useful to those studying engineering maths and physics.

Vibration of Functionally Graded Beams and Plates uses numerically efficient computational techniques to analyze vibration problems associated with FG beams and plates. Introductory material on FG materials and structural members, as well as a range of vibration and shear deformation theories are discussed, providing a valuable summary of these broader themes. The latest research and analysis of vibration in FG materials is presented in an application-oriented manner, linking the research to its importance in fields such as aerospace, nuclear power, and automotive engineering. The book also features research on the complicating effects of thermal environments, piezoelectricity, and elastic foundations. The innovative computational procedures and simulation results are shown in full throughout, providing a uniquely valuable resource for users of numerical modeling software. This book is essential reading for any researcher or practitioner interested in FG materials, or the design of technology for the nuclear power, aerospace, and automotive industries.

Vibration and structural acoustics analysis has become an essential requirement for high-quality structural and mechanical design in order to assure acoustic comfort and the integrity, reliability and fail-safe behavior of structures and machines.

The underlying technologies of this field of multidisciplinary research are evolving very fast and their dissemination is usually scattered over different and complementary scientific and technical publication means. In order to make it easy for developers and technology end-users to follow the latest developments and news in the field, this book collects into a single volume selected, extended, updated and revised versions of papers presented at the Symposium on Vibration and Structural Acoustics Analysis, coordinated by J. Dias Rodrigues and C. M. A. Vasques, which was organised as part of the 3rd International Conference on Integrity, Reliability & Failure (IRF 2009), co-chaired by J. F. Silva Gomes and Shaker A. Meguid, held at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Portugal, 20-24 July 2009.

These papers where chosen from the more than 60 papers presented at the conference symposium.

Written by experienced practitioners and researchers in the field, this book brings together recent developments in the field, spanning across a broad range of themes: vibration analysis, analytical and computational structural acoustics and vibration, material systems and technologies for noise and vibration control, vibration-based structural health monitoring/evaluation, machinery noise/vibration and diagnostics, experimental testing in vibration and structural acoustics, applications and case studies in structural acoustics and vibration. Each chapter presents and describes the state of the art, presents current research results and discusses the need for future developments in a particular aspect of vibration and structural acoustics analysis.

The book is envisaged to be an appealing text for newcomers to the subject and a useful research study tool for advanced students and faculty members. Practitioners and researchers may also find this book a one-stop reference that addresses current and future challenges in this field. The variety of case studies is expected to stimulate a holistic view of sound and vibration and related fields and to appeal to a broad spectrum of engineers such as the ones in the mechanical, aeronautical, aerospace, civil and electrical communities.

A Practical Approach to Dynamical Systems for Engineers takes the abstract mathematical concepts behind dynamical systems and applies them to real-world systems, such as a car traveling down the road, the ripples caused by throwing a pebble into a pond, and a clock pendulum swinging back and forth. Many relevant topics are covered, including modeling systems using differential equations, transfer functions, state-space representation, Hamiltonian systems, stability and equilibrium, and nonlinear system characteristics with examples including chaos, bifurcation, and limit cycles. In addition, MATLAB is used extensively to show how the analysis methods are applied to the examples. It is assumed readers will have an understanding of calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, and an interest in mechanical and electrical dynamical systems.

Composite structures are most efficient in performance and production cost when combined with smart materials making them adaptable to changing operational conditions.
The specific production processes of composites offer the possibility to integrate more functions thus making the structure more valuable. Active functions can be realized by smart materials, e.g. morphing, active vibration control, active structure acoustic control or structure health monitoring. The foundation is a sound understanding of materials, design methods, design principles, production technologies and adaptronics. Along the complete process chain this disciplines together deliver advanced lightweight solutions for applications ranging from mechanical engineering to vehicles, airframe and finally space structures.
This book provides the scientific foundations as well as inspiring new ideas for engineers working in the field of composite lightweight structures.

This book is a collection of articles covering the six lecture courses given at the CISM School on this topic in 2008. It features contributions by established international experts and offers a coherent and comprehensive overview of the state-of-the art research in the field, thus addressing both postgraduate students and researchers in aerospace, mechanical and civil engineering.

This book describes the modelling and optimisation of vibration reduction systems in an integrated fashion using nonlinear equations of motion. It proposes an effective optimisation method for determining the basic characteristics of the non-linear visco-elastic elements used in passive vibration reduction systems. In the case of semi-active and active vibration isolators, a design process of the advanced control systems is proposed that makes possible to optimise the controller settings relatively to the selected vibro-isolation criteria. The approach developed here is subsequently tested by means of experimental investigations conducted on various sample vibration reduction systems: passive, semi-active and active. The book presents a biomechanical modelling approach that allows users to select the properties of vibro-isolation systems for different types of oscillation and different optimisation criteria - and can significantly reduce the harmful vibrations that can affect the human body in the process. Further, the book equips readers to evaluate the viscoelastic characteristics of passive systems and design control systems for semi-active and active systems. Modelling and Control Design of Vibration Reduction Systems offers a valuable guide for researchers and practitioners alike. It also provides students and academics with systematic information on the procedures to be followed in the design process for semi-active or active vibration reduction systems.

Examines all the major types of mechatronic systems used in railway applications Surveys rail vehicle mechatronic design processes with practical sources and references Outlines modelling approaches for rail vehicles, from concept to finishined prototype Analyzes system integration of complex railway mechatronic systems Presents numerical experiments and mechatronic models with railway transport applications

This book applies vibration engineering to turbomachinery, covering installation, maintenance and operation. With a practical approach based on clear theoretical principles and formulas, the book is an essential how-to guide for all professional engineers dealing with vibration issues within turbomachinery. Vibration problems in turbines, large fans, blowers, and other rotating machines are common issues within turbomachinery. Applicable to industries such as oil and gas mining, cement, pharmaceutical and naval engineering, the ability to predict vibration based on frequency spectrum patterns is essential for many professional engineers. In this book, the theory behind vibration is clearly detailed, providing an easy to follow methodology through which to calculate vibration propagation. Describing lateral and torsional vibration and how this impacts turbine shaft integrity, the book uses mechanics of materials theory and formulas alongside the matrix method to provide clear solutions to vibration problems. Additionally, it describes how to carry out a risk assessment of vibration fatigue. Other topics covered include vibration control techniques, the design of passive and active absorbers and rigid, non-rigid and Z foundations. The book will be of interest to professionals working with turbomachinery, naval engineering corps and those working on ISO standards 10816 and 13374. It will also aid mechanical engineering students working on vibration and machine design.

Vibration-based condition monitoring (VCM) is a well-accepted approach in industries for early detection of any defect, thereby triggering the maintenance process and ultimately reducing overheads and plant downtime. A number of vibration instruments, data analyzer and related hardware and software codes are developed to meet the industry requirements. This book aims to address issues faced by VCM professionals, such as frequency range estimation for vibration measurements, sensors, data collection and data analyzer including related parameters which are explained through step-by-step approaches. Each chapter is written in the tutorial style with experimental and/or industrial examples for clear understanding.

Road Vehicle Dynamics: Fundamentals and Modeling with MATLAB (R), Second Edition combines coverage of vehicle dynamics concepts with MATLAB v9.4 programming routines and results, along with examples and numerous chapter exercises. Improved and updated, the revised text offers new coverage of active safety systems, rear wheel steering, race car suspension systems, airsprings, four-wheel drive, mechatronics, and other topics. Based on the lead author's extensive lectures, classes, and research activities, this unique text provides readers with insights into the computer-based modeling of automobiles and other ground vehicles. Instructor resources, including problem solutions, are available from the publisher.

This book contains the papers of the European Conference on Mechanisms Science (EUCOMES 2012 Conference). The book presents the most recent research developments in the mechanism and machine science field and their applications.

Topics addressed are theoretical kinematics, computational kinematics, mechanism design, experimental mechanics, mechanics of robots, dynamics of machinery, dynamics of multi-body systems, control issues of mechanical systems, mechanisms for biomechanics, novel designs, mechanical transmissions, linkages and manipulators, micro-mechanisms, teaching methods, history of mechanism science and industrial and non-industrial applications.

Thisvolumewill also serve as an interestingreference for the European activity in the fields of Mechanism and Machine Science as well as a source of inspirations for future works and developments."

This monograph focuses on the mathematical modeling of distributed parameter systems in which mass/energy transport or wave propagation phenomena occur and which are described by partial differential equations of hyperbolic type. The case of linear (or linearized) 2 x 2 hyperbolic systems of balance laws is considered, i.e., systems described by two coupled linear partial differential equations with two variables representing physical quantities, depending on both time and one-dimensional spatial variable. Based on practical examples of a double-pipe heat exchanger and a transportation pipeline, two typical configurations of boundary input signals are analyzed: collocated, wherein both signals affect the system at the same spatial point, and anti-collocated, in which the input signals are applied to the two different end points of the system. The results of this book emerge from the practical experience of the author gained during his studies conducted in the experimental installation of a heat exchange center as well as from his research experience in the field of mathematical and computer modeling of dynamic systems. The book presents valuable results concerning their state-space, transfer function and time-domain representations, which can be useful both for the open-loop analysis as well as for the closed-loop design. The book is primarily intended to help professionals as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students involved in modeling and automatic control of dynamic systems.

Many dynamical systems are described by differential equations that can be separated into one part, containing linear terms with constant coefficients, and a second part, relatively small compared with the first, containing nonlinear terms. Such a system is said to be weakly nonlinear. The small terms rendering the system nonlinear are referred to as perturbations. A weakly nonlinear system is called quasi-linear and is governed by quasi-linear differential equations. We will be interested in systems that reduce to harmonic oscillators in the absence of perturbations. This book is devoted primarily to applied asymptotic methods in nonlinear oscillations which are associated with the names of N. M. Krylov, N. N. Bogoli ubov and Yu. A. Mitropolskii. The advantages of the present methods are their simplicity, especially for computing higher approximations, and their applicability to a large class of quasi-linear problems. In this book, we confine ourselves basi cally to the scheme proposed by Krylov, Bogoliubov as stated in the monographs 6,211. We use these methods, and also develop and improve them for solving new problems and new classes of nonlinear differential equations. Although these methods have many applications in Mechanics, Physics and Technique, we will illustrate them only with examples which clearly show their strength and which are themselves of great interest. A certain amount of more advanced material has also been included, making the book suitable for a senior elective or a beginning graduate course on nonlinear oscillations."

This monograph presents computational models that describe electro-mechanical characteristics of tapered and cylinder roller bearings in various industrial applications. Applying the Levenberg-Marquardt's algorithm to solving strongly nonlinear coupled equation systems, the computational models consisting of many circular slices per rolling element enable computations of the local Hertzian pressures at the elastohydrodynamic (EHD) contact area, the relating oil-film thickness in elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL), the limiting voltage of electro-pitting, bearing frictions, and fatigue lifetimes of the bearings for various load spectra. Using the best-known machine-learning method for clustering, the load spectrum is clustered in k cluster means based on the invariant damage number to accelerate the load spectrum. Furthermore, the accelerated load spectrum is used for the testing procedure of the bearings to reduce the testing time and costs as well. The target audience of this book primarily comprises graduate students in mechanical engineering and practicing engineers of electro-machines and transmission systems who want to computationally design tapered and cylinder roller bearings for the automotive industry and other industries, and to deeply dive into these relating working fields.

This book reports on a comprehensive study addressing the dynamic responses of hydropower plants under diverse conditions and disturbances, and analyzes their stability and oscillations. Multiple models based on eight existing hydropower plants in Sweden and China were developed and used for simulations and theoretical analysis with various degrees of complexity and for different purposes, and compared with on-site measurements for validations. The book offers important insights into the understanding of the hydraulic, mechanical and electrical coupling mechanisms, up to market conditions and incentives. It recommends control strategies for a more stable and efficient operation of hydropower plants.

After a short introduction to the fundamentals, this book provides a detailed account of major advances in applying fractional calculus to dynamical systems. Fractional order dynamical systems currently continue to gain further importance in many areas of science and engineering. As with many other approaches to mathematical modeling, the first issue to be addressed is the need to couple a definition of the fractional differentiation or integration operator with the types of dynamical systems that are analyzed. As such, for the fundamentals the focus is on basic aspects of fractional calculus, in particular stability analysis, which is required to tackle synchronization in coupled fractional order systems, to understand the essence of estimators for related integer order systems, and to keep track of the interplay between synchronization and parameter observation. This serves as the common basis for the more advanced topics and applications presented in the subsequent chapters, which include an introduction to the 'Immersion and Invariance' (I&I) methodology, the masterslave synchronization scheme for partially known nonlinear fractional order systems, Fractional Algebraic Observability (FAO) and Fractional Generalized quasi-Synchronization (FGqS) to name but a few. This book is intended not only for applied mathematicians and theoretical physicists, but also for anyone in applied science dealing with complex nonlinear systems.