Advances in Applied Mechanics draws together recent, significant advances in various topics in applied mechanics. Published since 1948, the book aims to provide authoritative review articles on topics in the mechanical sciences. While the book is ideal for scientists and engineers working in various branches of mechanics, it is also beneficial to professionals who use the results of investigations in mechanics in various applications, such as aerospace, chemical, civil, environmental, mechanical, and nuclear engineering.

This book outlines a simple and easy-to-follow process for auditing building operation to identify and reduce energy consumption. It explains the operational and cost-based opportunities, assessing the current conditions, analyzing the opportunities, and reporting the findings and documenting the plan. The book discusses the different building components and systems and how they affect energy efficiency and describes the operational energy efficiencies that can be gained by implementing no cost changes or alternate maintenance activities already funded. Capital improvement opportunities, and evaluating Return on Investment and life cycle replacement of equipment are also covered.

Polymeric materials have been and continue to be a focus of research in the development of materials for energy conversion, storage and delivery applications (fuel cells, batteries, photovoltaics, capacitors, etc.). Significant growth in this field started in the early 1990s and has continued to grow quite substantially since that time. Polymeric materials now have a prominent place in energy research.
For polymers, particularly polyelectrolytes, being used in fuel cell and battery applications, the importance of chain microstructure, chain dynamics, and nanoscale morphology on the overall performance characteristics of these materials cannot be overstated. As further advancements are made in polymer chemistry, control of nanostructure and characterization, there is a necessity for organized forums that foster cross-fertilization of knowledge and ideas between experts in polymer chemistry, chemical engineering, and polymer physics. This volume is the result of such a forum.
Most of the chapters in this book are based on a cross-section of the oral presentations in a symposium on Polymers for Energy Storage and Delivery held in March of 2011 as part of the 241st ACS National Meeting & Exposition (Anaheim, CA). The book contains 17 chapters presented in two parts. Part one focuses on polymers for battery applications and will cover theory and modeling, novel materials, and materials characterization. Professor Janna Maranas has provided an excellent review of the current state of understanding in polyelectrolytes as ion conductors in batteries. Part two will focus on polymers for fuel cells and will cover novel materials, transport, and materials characterization with a brief introduction into the history of polyelectrolytes for fuel cells and the classes of materials being pursued. Realizing the common role that nanostructure plays in both battery and fuel cell applications, Professor Moon Jeong Park and coworkers have also contributed a chapter demonstrating the role of nanostructured polyelectrolyte systems in energy storage and delivery. In addition, the editors are pleased to have a chapter-contributed by Professor Howard Wang and staff scientists of the NIST Center for Neutron Research-on the most state-of-art, in-situ neutron methods for studying lithium ion batteries.

Most modern systems involve various engineering disciplines. Mechatronic systems are designed to be dependable and efficient; however, mechatronics engineering faces multiple challenges at the design and exploitation stages. It is essential for engineers to be aware of these challenges and remain up to date with the emerging research in the mechatronics engineering field. Trends, Paradigms, and Advances in Mechatronics Engineering presents the latest advances and applications of mechatronics. It highlights the recent challenges in the field and facilitates understanding of the subject. Covering topics such as the construction industry, design optimization, and low-cost fabrication, this premier reference source is a crucial resource for engineers, computer scientists, construction managers, students and educators of higher education, librarians, researchers, and academicians.

It is commonly known that three or more particles interacting via a two-body potential is an intractable problem. However, similar systems confined to one dimension yield exactly solvable equations, which have seeded widely pursued studies of one-dimensional n-body problems. The interest in these investigations is justified by their rich and quantitative insights into real-world classical and quantum problems, birthing a field that is the subject of this book. Spanning four bulk chapters, this book is written with the hope that readers come to appreciate the beauty of the mathematical results concerning the models of many-particle systems, such as the interaction between light particles and infinitely massive particles, as well as interacting quasiparticles. As the book discusses several unsolved problems in the subject, it functions as an insightful resource for researchers working in this branch of mathematical physics.In Chapter 1, the author first introduces readers to interesting problems in mathematical physics, with the prime objective of finding integrals of motion for classical many-particle systems as well as the exact solutions of the corresponding equations of motions. For these studied systems, their quantum mechanical analogue is then developed in Chapter 2. In Chapter 3, the book focuses on a quintessential problem in the quantum theory of magnetism: namely, to find all integrable one-dimensional systems involving quasiparticles of interacting one-half spins. Readers will study the integrable periodic chains of interacting one-half spins and discover the integrals of motion for such systems, as well as the eigenvectors of their corresponding Hamiltonians. In the last chapter, readers will study about integrable systems of quantum particles, with spin and mutual interactions involving rational, trigonometric, or elliptic potentials.

Bioengineering is a rapidly expanding interdisciplinary field that encompasses application engineering techniques in the field of mechanical engineering, electrical, electronics and instrumentation engineering, and computer science and engineering to solve the problems of the biological world. With the advent to digital computers and rapidly developing computational techniques, computer simulations are widely used as a predictive tool to supplement the experimental techniques in engineering and technology. Computational biomechanics is a field where the movements biological systems are assessed in the light of computer algorithms describing solid and fluid mechanical principles. This book outlines recent developments in the field of computational biomechanics. It presents a series of computational techniques that are the backbone of the field that includes finite element analysis, multi-scale modelling, fluid-solid interaction, mesh-less techniques and topological optimization. It also presents a series of case studies highlighting applications of these techniques in different biological system and different case studies detailing the application of the principles described earlier and the outcomes. This book gives an overview of the current trends and future directions of research and development in the field of computational biomechanics. Overall, this book gives insight into the current trends of application of intelligent computational techniques used to analyse a multitude of phenomena the field of biomechanics. It elaborates a series of sophisticated techniques used for computer simulation in both solid mechanics, fluid mechanics and fluid-solid interface across different domain of biological world and across various dimensional scales along with relevant case studies. The book elucidates how human locomotion to bacterial swimming, blood flow to sports science, these wide range of phenomena can be analyzed using computational methods to understand their inherent mechanisms of work and predict the behavior of the system. The target audience of the book will be post-graduate students and researchers in the field of Biomedical Engineering. Also industry professionals in biomedical engineering and allied disciplines including but not limited to kinesiologists and clinicians, as well as, computer engineers and applied mathematicians working in algorithm development in biomechanics.

Extremum Seeking through Delays and PDEs, the first book on the topic, expands the scope of applicability of the extremum seeking method, from static and finite-dimensional systems to infinite-dimensional systems. Readers will find: Numerous algorithms for model-free real-time optimization are developed and their convergence guaranteed. Extensions from single-player optimization to noncooperative games, under delays and pdes, are provided. The delays and pdes are compensated in the control designs using the pde backstepping approach, and stability is ensured using infinite-dimensional versions of averaging theory. Accessible and powerful tools for analysis. This book is intended for control engineers in all disciplines (electrical, mechanical, aerospace, chemical), mathematicians, physicists, biologists, and economists. It is appropriate for graduate students, researchers, and industrial users.

A world-recognized expert in the science of vehicle dynamics, Dr. Thomas Gillespie has created an ideal reference book that has been used by engineers for 30 years, ranging from an introduction to the subject at the university level to a common sight on the desks of engineers throughout the world. As with the original printing, Fundamentals of Vehicle Dynamics, Revised Edition, strives to find a middle ground by balancing the need to provide detailed conceptual explanations of the engineering principles involved in the dynamics of ground vehicles with equations and example problems that clearly and concisely demonstrate how to apply such principles. A study of this book will ensure that the reader comes away with a solid foundation and is prepared to discuss the subject in detail. Ideal as much for a first course in vehicle dynamics as it is a professional reference, Fundamentals of Vehicle Dynamics, Revised Edition, maintains the tradition of the original by being easy to read and while receiving updates throughout in the form of modernized graphics and improved readability.

It was not until 1971 that the authority for defining scientific units, the General Conference of Weights and Measures got around to defining the unit that is the basis of chemistry (the mole, or the quantity of something). Yet for all this tardiness in putting the chemical sciences on a sound quantitative basis, chemistry is an old and venerable subject and one naturally asks the question, why? Well, the truth is that up until the mid-1920s, many physicists did not believe in the reality of molecules. Indeed, it was not until after the physics community had accepted Ernest Rutherford's 1913 solar-system-like model of the atom, and the quantum mechanical model of the coupling of electron spins in atoms that physicists started to take seriously the necessity of explaining the chemical changes that chemists had been observing, investigating and recording since the days of the alchemists.

Key Features: Describes feedstock evaluation and the effects of elemental, chemical and fractional composition. Details reactor types and bed types. Explores the process options and parameters involved. Assesses coke formation and additives. Considers next generation processes and developments.

This book is a short introduction to classical field theory, most suitable for undergraduate students who have had at least intermediate-level courses in electromagnetism and classical mechanics. The main theme of the book is showcasing role of fields in mediating action-at-a-distance interactions. Suitable technical machinery is developed to explore at least some aspect of each of the four known fundamental forces in nature. Beginning with the physically-motivated introduction to field theory, the text covers the relativistic formulation of electromagnetism in great detail so that aspects of gravity and the nuclear interaction not usually encountered at the undergraduate level can be covered by using analogies with familiar electromagentism. Special topics such as the behavior of gravity in extra, compactified dimensions, magnetic monopoles and electromagnetic duality, and the Higgs mechanism are also briefly considered.

Solid Fuels and Heavy Hydrocarbon Liquids: Thermal Characterisation and Analysis, Second Edition integrates the developments that have taken place since publication of the first edition in 2006. This updated material includes new insights that help unify the thermochemical reactions of biomass and coal, as well as new developments in analytical techniques, including new applications in size exclusion chromatography, several mass spectrometric techniques, and new applications of nuclear magnetic spectroscopy to the characterization of heavy hydrocarbon liquids The topics covered are essential for the energy and fuels research community, including academics, students, and research engineers working in the power, oil and gas, and renewable energy industries.