Recent developments in information processing systems have driven the advancement of numerical simulations in engineering. New models and simulations enable better solutions for problem-solving and overall process improvement. Advanced Numerical Simulations in Mechanical Engineering is a pivotal reference source for the latest research findings on advanced modelling and simulation method adopted in mechanical and mechatronics engineering. Featuring extensive coverage on relevant areas such as fuzzy logic controllers, finite element analysis, and analytical models, this publication is an ideal resource for students, professional engineers, and researchers interested in the application of numerical simulations in mechanical engineering.

Ready access to computers has de?ned a new era in teaching and learning. The opportunity to extend the subject matter of traditional science and engineering curricula into the realm of scienti?c computing has become not only desirable, but also necessary. Thanks to portability and low overhead and operating cost, experimentation by numerical simulation has become a viable substitute, and occasionally the only alternative, to physical experimentation. The new framework has necessitated the writing of texts and monographs from a modern perspective that incorporates numerical and computer progr- ming aspects as an integral part of the discourse. Under this modern directive, methods, concepts, and ideas are presented in a uni?ed fashion that motivates and underlines the urgency of the new elements, but neither compromises nor oversimpli?es the rigor of the classical approach. Interfacing fundamental concepts and practical methods of scienti?c c- puting can be implemented on di?erent levels. In one approach, theory and implementation are kept complementary and presented in a sequential fashion. In another approach, the coupling involves deriving computational methods and simulation algorithms, and translating equations into computer code - structions immediately following problem formulations. Seamlessly interjecting methods of scienti?c computing in the traditional discourse o?ers a powerful venue for developing analytical skills and obtaining physical insight.

This book collects papers selected by an international program committee for presentation at the 8th International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems. The papers present state of the art research advances in the field of distributed robotics. What makes this book distinctive is the emphasis on using multiple robots and on making them autonomous, as opposed to being teleoperated. Novel algorithms, system architectures, technologies, and numerous applications are covered.

The unique focus of the book is the close symbiotic relationship between design and manufacture. It covers a large number of actual issues in the field by authors from the main research groups involved in developing methods, models and tools for the improvement of design and manufacturing processes in companies. It presents a selection of thirty-three papers ensuing from the fifth International Conference on Integrated Design and Manufacturing in Mechanical Engineering, held at the University of Bath, UK, in April 2004.

The contributions are divided in the following sections: two keynotes presenting the general synergies and relationships between the design and manufacturing processes through the concepts of production knowledge and integration; design strategies and methodologies, dealing with the critical element of knowledge in design and manufacturing processes and the methods with which designing can be undertaken collaboratively in an integrated manner; integrated design of manufacturing processes, which aim is to ensure a high quality product meeting all requirements, rapidly and at optimum cost; and design tools for particular applications in which texts optimising local decision have been grouped.

The book is of interest to academics, students and practitioners specialising in design and manufacturing issues in mechanical engineering, who will find it of the greatest interest to compare various points of view within the fields broached throughout the Conference. This volume is recommended as a reference textbook for all researchers in this field. It will give teachning staff confronted with training methodologies in integrated design and production a toolto assess the scope of the development prospects in an extremely wide ranging field.

Micromechanisms of Fracture and Fatigue forms the culmination of 20 years of research in the field of fatigue and fracture. It discusses a range of topics and comments on the state of the art for each. The first part is devoted to models of deformation and fracture of perfect crystals. Using various atomistic methods, the theoretical strength of solids under simple and complex loading is calculated for a wide range of elements and compounds, and compared with experimental data. The connection between the onset of local plasticity in nanoindentation tests and the ideal shear strength is analysed using a multi-scale approach. Moreover, the nature of intrinsic brittleness or ductility of perfect crystal lattices is demonstrated by the coupling of atomistic and mesoscopic approaches, and compared with brittle/ductile behaviour of engineering materials. The second part addresses extrinsic sources of fracture toughness of engineering materials, related to their microstructure and microstructurally-induced crack tortuosity. Micromechanisms of ductile fracture are also described, in relation to the fracture strain of materials. Results of multilevel modelling, including statistical aspects of microstructure, are used to explain remarkable phenomena discovered in experiments. In the third part of the book, basic micromechanisms of fatigue cracks propagation under uniaxial and multiaxial loading are discussed on the basis of the unified mesoscopic model of crack tip shielding and closure, taking both microstructure and statistical effects into account. Applications to failure analysis are also outlined, and an attempt is made to distinguish intrinsic and extrinsic sources of materials resistance to fracture. Micromechanisms of Fracture and Fatigue provides scientists, researchers and postgraduate students with not only a deep insight into basic micromechanisms of fracture behaviour of materials, but also a number of engineering applications.

These Proceedings contain the papers presented at the 1stAsian Pacific Congress on "Computational Mechanics" held in Sydney, on 20-23 November 2001.
The theme of the first Congress of the Asian-Pacific Association for Computational Mechanics in the new millennium is "New Frontiers for the New Millennium." The papers cover such new frontiers as micromechanics, contact mechanics, environmental geomechanics, chemo-thermo-mechanics, inverse techniques, homogenization, meshless methods, smart materials/smart structures and graphic visualization, besides the general topics related to the application of finite element and boundary element methods in structural mechanics, fluid mechanics, geomechanics and biomechanics.

One of the next challenges in vehicular technology field is to improve drastically the road safety. Current developments are focusing on both vehicle platform and diverse assistance systems. This book presents a new engineering approach based on lean vehicle architecture ready for the drive-by-wire technology.

Based on a cognitive functionality split, execution and command levels are detailed. The execution level centralized over the stability control performs the motion vector coming from the command level. At this level the driver generates a motion vector which is continuously monitored by a virtual co-pilot. The integration of assistance systems in a safety relevant multi-agent system is presented here to provide first an adequate feedback to the driver to let him recover a dangerous situation. Robust strategies are also presented for the intervention phase once the command vehicle has to be optimized to stay within the safety envelope.

Computational Rheology for Pipeline and Annular Flow develops and applies modern analytical and computational finite difference methods for solving flow problems in drilling and production. It also provides valuable insights into flow assurance analysis in subsea pipeline design. Using modeling techniques that simulate the motion of non-Newtonian fluids, e.g., power law, Bingham plastic, and Herschel-Bulkley flows, this book presents proven annular flow methodologies for cuttings transport and stuck pipe analysis based on detailed experimental data obtained from highly deviated and horizontal wells. These methods are applied for highly eccentric borehole geometries to the design of pipeline bundles in subsea applications, where such annular configurations arise in velocity and thermal modeling applications.
Also covered extensively are the design and modeling of pipelines having non-circular cross-sections, where deviations from ideal circular geometries arise from plugging due to wax deposition and the presence of hydrates and asphaltenes. As in the case of annular flows, the new algorithms apply to fluids with general rheological description; for example, the methods show very precisely how flow rate and pressure gradient vary nonlinearly in practical problem situations.

* Includes Windows-based software that contains highly integrated, user-friendly color-graphics algorithms (available via the Gulf Professional Publishing website at www.gulfpp.com)
* Provides valuable insights into flow assurance analysis.
* Contains new algorithms on annular flows and fluids with general rheological descriptions supply solutions to practical problems.

The Fifth International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS 2000) dealt with new strategies to realize complex, modular, robust, and fault-tolerant robotic systems. Technologies, algorithms, and system architectures for distributed autonomous robotic systems were presented and discussed during the meeting. DARS 2000 was truly an international event, with participants represent ing eleven countries from Europe, Asia, and the Americas. All of the papers in this volume were presented at DARS 2000, and were selected on the basis of peer re views to ensure quality and relevance. These papers have the common goal of con tributing solutions to realize robust and intelligent multirobot systems. The topics of the symposium address a wide range of issues that are important in the development of decentralized robotic systems. These topics include architec tures, communication, biological inspirations, reconfigurable robots, localization, exploration and mapping, distributed sensing, multi robot motion coordination, tar get assignment and tracking, multirobot learning, and cooperative object transport. DARS clearly requires a broad area of interdisciplinary technologies related not only to robotics and computer engineering, but also to biology and psychology. The DARS symposium is the leading established conference on distributed au tonomous systems. The First, Second, and Third International Symposia on Distrib uted Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS '92, DARS '94, and DARS '96) were held at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), Saitama, Japan."

Written to teach students the nature of transonic flow and its mathematical foundation, this book offers a much-needed introduction to transonic aerodynamics. The authors present a quantitative and qualitative assessment of subsonic, supersonic and transonic flow around bodies in two and three dimensions. The book reviews the governing equations and explores their applications and limitations as employed in modeling and computational fluid dynamics. Some concepts, such as shock and expansion theory, are examined from a numerical perspective. Others, including shock-boundary-layer interaction, are discussed from a qualitative point of view. The book includes 60 examples and more than 200 practice problems. The authors also offer analytical methods such as Method of Characteristics (MOC) that allow readers to practice with the subject matter. The result is a wealth of insight into transonic flow phenomena and their impact on aircraft design, including compressibility effects, shock and expansion waves, shock-boundary-layer interaction and aeroelasticity.

It is our pleasure to present these proceedings for "The Aerodynamics of Heavy Vehicles II: Trucks, Buses and Trains" International Conference held in Lake - hoe, California, August 26-31, 2007 by Engineering Conferences International (ECI). Brought together were the world's leading scientists and engineers from industry, universities, and research laboratories, including truck and high-speed train manufacturers and operators. All were gathered to discuss computer simu- tion and experimental techniques to be applied for the design of the more efficient trucks, buses and high-speed trains required in future years. This was the second conference in the series. The focus of the first conference in 2002 was the interplay between computations and experiment in minimizing ae- dynamic drag. The present proceedings, from the 2007 conference, address the development and application of advanced aerodynamic simulation and experim- tal methods for state-of-the-art analysis and design, as well as the development of new ideas and trends holding promise for the coming 10-year time span. Also - cluded, are studies of heavy vehicle aerodynamic tractor and trailer add-on - vices, studies of schemes to delay undesirable flow separation, and studies of - derhood thermal management.

The 4th edition includes updated and additional examples and exercises on the core fundamental concepts of mechanics, robots, and kinematics of serial robots. New images of CAD models and physical robots help to motivate concepts being introduced. Each chapter of the book can be read independently of others as it addresses a seperate issue in robotics.

This book concentrates on the design and development of integrated optic waveguide sensors using silicon based materials. The implementation of such system as a tool for detecting adulteration in petroleum based products as well as its use for detection of glucose level in diabetes are highlighted. The first chapters are dedicated to the development of the theoretical model while the final chapters are focused on the different applications of such sensors. It gives the readers the full background in the field of sensors, reasons for using silicon oxynitride as a potential waveguide material as well as its fabrication processes and possible uses.

This book presents some basic flexure geometries and the analytic models, which can be assessed for specific design applications. The author then goes beyond this fundamental explanation to explore more sophisticated issues. Specifically, the text discusses integration of these flexure geometries and analytic models to produce useful mechanisms for precise motion control with fast dynamic response. This book will be useful for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, particularly those who hope to acquire competence in experimental and mechanical sciences. Practicing engineers and other scientists currently working in related fields will also benefit from Flexure.

Some years ago, silicon-based mechanical sensors, like pressure sensors, accelerometers and gyroscopes, started their successful advance. Every year, hundreds of millions of these devices are sold, mainly for medical and automotive applications. The airbag sensor on which research already started several decades ago at Stanford University can be found in every new car and has saved already numerous lives. Pressure sensors are also used in modern electronic blood pressure equipment. Many other mechanical sensors, mostly invisible to the public, perform useful functions in countless industrial and consumer products.

The underlying physics and technology of silicon-based mechanical sensors is rather complex and is treated in numerous publications scattered throughout the literature. Therefore, a clear need existed for a handbook that thoroughly and systematically reviews the present basic knowledge on these devices.

After a short introduction, Professor Bao discusses the main issues relevant to silicon-based mechanical sensors. First a thorough treatment of stress and strain in diaphragms and beams is presented. Next, vibration of mechanical structures is illuminated, followed by a chapter on air damping. These basic chapters are then succeeded by chapters in which capacitive and piezoresistive sensing techniques are amply discussed. The book concludes with chapters on commercially available pressure sensors, accelerometers and resonant sensors in which the above principles are applied.

Everybody, involved in designing silicon-based mechanical sensors, will find a wealth of useful information in the book, assisting the designer in obtaining highly optimized devices.

Practical Ship Hydrodynamics, Second Edition, introduces the reader to modern ship hydrodynamics. It describes experimental and numerical methods for ship resistance and propulsion, maneuvering, seakeeping, hydrodynamic aspects of ship vibrations, and hydrodynamic options for fuel efficiency, as well as new developments in computational methods and model testing techniques relating to marine design and development. Organized into six chapters, the book begins with an overview of problems and approaches, including the basics of modeling and full-scale testing, prediction of ship hydrodynamic performance, and viscous flow computations. It proceeds with a discussion of the marine applications of computational fluid dynamics and boundary element methods, factors affecting ship hydrodynamics, and simple design estimates of hydrodynamic quantities such as resistance and wake fraction. Seakeeping of ships is investigated with respect to issues such as maximum speed in a seaway, route optimization (routing), structural design of the ship with respect to loads in seaways, and habitation comfort and safety of people on board. Exercises and solutions, formula derivations, and texts are included to support teaching or self-studies. This book is suitable for marine engineering students in design and hydrodynamics courses, professors teaching a course in general fluid dynamics, practicing marine engineers and naval architects, and consulting marine engineers.

1. Enables first year mechanical engineering students to gain a core foundational knowledge in all key areas 2. Provides worked examples of exam-style questions 3. Includes chapters by leading experts experienced in teaching first year students in all disciplines of mechanical engineering 4. Gives a thorough grounding in the following core engineering topics: thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, solid mechanics, dynamics, electricals and electronics, and materials science

This book describes how surface tension effects can be used by engineers to provide mechanical functions in miniaturized products (<1 mm). Even if precursors of this field such as Jurin or Laplace already date back to the 18th century, describing surface tension effects from a mechanical perspective is very recent. The originality of this book is to consider the effects of capillary bridges on solids, including forces and torques exerted both statically and dynamically by the liquid along the 6 degrees-of-freedom. It provides a comprehensive approach to various applications, such as capillary adhesion (axial force), centering force in packaging and micro-assembly (lateral force) and recent developments such as a capillary motor (torque). It devises how surface tension can be used to provide mechanical functions such as actuation (bubble-actuated compliant table), sealing and tightness, energy harvesting, nanodispending.

Increasingly, robots are being used in environments inhospitable to humans such as the deep ocean, inside nuclear reactors, and in deep space. Such robots are controlled by remote links to human operators who may be close by or thousands of miles away. The techniques used to control these robots is the subject of this book. The author begins with a basic introduction to robot control and then considers the important problems to be overcome: delays or noisy control lines, feedback and response information, and predictive displays. Readers are assumed to have a basic understanding of robotics though this may be their first exposure to the subject of telerobotics. Professional engineers and roboticists will find this an invaluable introduction to this subject.

The objective of Volume III is to lay down the proper mathematical foundations of the two-dimensional theory of shells. To this end, it provides, without any recourse to any "a priori" assumptions of a geometrical or mechanical nature, a mathematical justification of two-dimensional nonlinear and linear shell theories, by means of asymptotic methods, with the thickness as the "small" parameter.

This book introduces and analyzes the models for engineering leadership and competency skills, as well as frameworks for industry-academia collaboration and is appropriate for students, researchers, and professionals interested in continuous professional development. The authors look at the organizational structures of engineering education in knowledge-based economies and examine the role of innovation and how it is encouraged in schools. It also provides a methodological framework and toolkit for investigating the needs of engineering and technology skills in national contexts. A detailed empirical case study is included that examines the leadership competencies that are needed in knowledge-based economies and how one university encourages these in their program. The book concludes with conceptual modeling and proposals of specific organizational structures for implementation in engineering schools, in order to enable the development of necessary skills for future engineering graduates.

The principal object of this volume is the creation of a mathematical theory of deformations for elastic anisotropic thermodynamic piezoelastic plates, beams and shells with variable thickness. The book is divided into two parts. The first part deals with problems related to the construction of refined theories (such as those of Richhof-Love, von Karman-A. Fioppl, and Reissner) and their equivalent new models (depending on arbitrary control functions). These are investigated by means of a new variational principle. Methods of reduction, containing regular processes of study of spatial problems, are also studied. Topics treated include problems of solvability, error estimations, convergence of processes in Sobolev spaces and construction of effective schemes of solutions of two-dimensional boundary value problems for systems of partial differential equations. The second part considers stable projective methods, using classical orthogonal polynomials and a new class of spline-functions as coordinate systems, and their numerical realizations for a design of one- and two- dimensional boundary value problems from the first part. These efficient methods increase the possibilities of classical finite-difference, exponential- fitted, variational-discrete and alternating-direction methods. Audience: This book will be of interest to researchers and graduate students whose work involves mechanics, analysis, numerics and computation, mathematical modelling and industrial mathematics, calculus of variations, and design engineering.