This book collects 42 peer-reviewed papers presented in the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Nanostructured Materials by High-Pressure Severe Plastic Deformation, held in Donetsk, Ukraine, September 22-24, 2004.

Recently, it was reported that nanostructured materials processed under high pressure by HPT and ECAP have an extraordinary combination of both high strength and high ductility, which are two desirable, but rarely co-existing properties. These findings indicate that high-pressure is a critical factor that can be employed to process nanostructured materials with superior mechanical, and possibly also physical, properties. It is the objective of this workshop to review our current knowledge, identify issues for future research, and discuss future directions on the processing and properties of nanostructured materials via SPD techniques, with a special emphasis on high-pressure effects.

During the 3-day workshop, about 60 scientists from 12 countries presented 60 papers. Over 20 keynote presentations were given by distinguished scientists in this field. Papers in this book cover areas of high pressure effect on the nanostructure and properties of SPD-processed materials, fundamentals of nanostructured materials, development of high-pressure SPD technologies for commercializations, recent advances of SPD technologies as well as applications and future markets of SPD-processed nanostructured materials

This book provides a comprehensive and authoritative review of durability of the frost resistance of concrete. It will enable both concrete materials specialists and practising engineers to better understand the deterioration processes which take place during freezing and thawing, and the effects of de-icing salts on concrete. It shows how test procedures can be used to provide worthwhile information and explains the many problems associated with their use. Durability of Concrete in Cold Climates explains how concrete can be designed and produced to be durable in cold environments, through careful selection of materials, mixture composition and proper use of air entrainment. It is fully illustrated with photographs and diagrams and contains over 250 references to sources and other publications. The main topics covered are: theories of frost ction and de-icer salt scaling mechanisms; laboratory tests; influence of materials and mix characteristics; air entrainment; field performance; and frost durability of dry concretes.

A state-of-the-art report prepared by RILEM Technical Committee 116-PCD. At present, durability of concrete is controlled by specifying the materials to be used, the methods of mixing, placing, curing and so on. This approach is often unsatisfactory and it is a common objective of concrete researchers and engineers to develop performance criteria which allow the potential durability of a particular concrete mix or structure to be estimated. However, the complexity of concrete as a material and the difficulty of developing consistent and reliable test methods has meant that progress has been slow. International interest in the subject is growing strongly with the development of international standards and so this book is very timely in giving an authoritative, international review of the subject. It will set the scene for the next few years as a key source of information and advice.

This book presents the theory of plates and shells on the basis of the three-dimensional parent theory. The authors explore the thinness of the structure to represent the mechanics of the actual thin three-dimensional body under consideration by a more tractable two-dimensional theory associated with an interior surface. In this way, the relatively complex three-dimensional continuum mechanics of the thin body is replaced by a far more tractable two-dimensional theory. To ensure that the resulting model is predictive, it is necessary to compensate for this 'dimension reduction' by assigning additional kinematical and dynamical descriptors to the surface whose deformations are modelled by the simpler two-dimensional theory. The authors avoid the various ad hoc assumptions made in the historical development of the subject, most notably the classical Kirchhoff-Love hypothesis requiring that material lines initially normal to the shell surface remain so after deformation. Instead, such conditions, when appropriate, are here derived rather than postulated.

The fundamental theories of simulating blast effects in elastic and elastoplastic media are presented in this monograph. Both classical and modern methods for modelling the processes of rock breakage by blasting are described. Contemporary methods for recording the processes occurring at high speeds are also presented. Physical and mathematical models of the major phenomena associated with blasting in open-cast and underground mines are illustrated. This monograph is intended for professionals involved in research and in the utilisation of blast energy in various sectors of the national economy.

Although several books and conference proceedings have already appeared dealing with either the mathematical aspects or applications of homogenization theory, there seems to be no comprehensive volume dealing with both aspects. The present volume is meant to fill this gap, at least partially, and deals with recent developments in nonlinear homogenization emphasizing applications of current interest. It contains thirteen key lectures presented at the NATO Advanced Workshop on Nonlinear Homogenization and Its Applications to Composites, Polycrystals and Smart Materials. The list of thirty one contributed papers is also appended.

The key lectures cover both fundamental, mathematical aspects of homogenization, including nonconvex and stochastic problems, as well as several applications in micromechanics, thin films, smart materials, and structural and topology optimization. One lecture deals with a topic important for nanomaterials: the passage from discrete to continuum problems by using nonlinear homogenization methods. Some papers reveal the role of parameterized or Young measures in description of microstructures and in optimal design. Other papers deal with recently developed methods both analytical and computational for estimating the effective behavior and field fluctuations in composites and polycrystals with nonlinear constitutive behavior.

All in all, the volume offers a cross-section of current activity in nonlinear homogenization including a broad range of physical and engineering applications. The careful reader will be able to identify challenging open problems in this still evolving field. For instance, there is the need to improve bounding techniques for nonconvex problems, as well as for solving geometrically nonlinear optimum shape-design problems, using relaxation and homogenization methods."

This is the first book devoted to a systematic description of the linear theory of piezoelectric shells and plates theory. The book contains two parts. In the first part, the theories for electroelastic thin-walled elements of arbitrary form with different directions of preliminary polarization are presented in an easy form for practical use. The approximate methods for integrating the equations of piezoelectric shells and plates are developed and applied for solving some engineering problems. In the second part, the theory of piezoelectric shells and plates is substantiated by the asymptotic method. The area of applicability for different kinds of electroelastic shell theories is studied. A new problem concerning the electroelastic phenomena at the edge of a thin-walled element is raised and solved.
The Theory of Piezoelectric Shells and Plates will be valuable to researchers working in the field of electroelasticity as well as to electrical and electronic engineers who use thin-walled piezoelements. It is also be helpful for students and post-graduates specializing in mechanics and for scientists concerning asymptotic methods.

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 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, construction of novel mechanical devices, as well as detection and treatment of singularities.

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.

Since January 1990, when the first edition ofthis first-of-a-kind book appeared, there has been much experimental and theoretical progress in the multi disciplinary subject of tribology and mechanics of magnetic storage devices. The subject has matured into a rigorous discipline, and many university tribology and mechanics courses now routinely contain material on magnetic storage devices. The major growth in the subject has been on the micro- and nanoscale aspects of tribology and mechanics. Today, most large magnetic storage industries use atomic force microscopes to image the magnetic storage components. Many companies use variations of AFMs such as friction force microscopes (FFMs) for frictional studies. These instruments have also been used for studying scratch, wear, and indentation. These studies are valuable in the fundamental understanding of interfacial phenomena. In the second edition, I have added a new chapter, Chapter 11, on micro and nanoscale aspects of tribology and mechanics of magnetic storage compo nents. This chapter presents the state of the art of the micro/nanotribology and micro/nanomechanics of magnetic storage components. In addition, typographical errors in Chapters 1 to 10 and the appendixes have been corrected. These additions update this book and make it more valuable to researchers of the subject. I am grateful to many colleagues and particularly to my students, whose work is reported in Chapter 11. I thank my wife, Sudha, who has been forbearing during the progress of the research reported in this chapter.

Despite their apparent simplicity, the behaviour of pendulums can be remarkably complicated. Historically, pendulums for specific purposes have been developed using a combination of simplified theory and trial and error. There do not appear to be any introductory books on pendulums, written at an intermediate level, and covering a wide range of topics. This book aims to fill the gap. It is written for readers with some background in elementary geometry, algebra, trigonometry and calculus. Historical information, where available and useful for the understanding of various types of pendulum and their applications, is included. Perhaps the best known use of pendulums is as the basis of clocks in which a pendulum controls the rate at which the clock runs. Interest in theoretical and practical aspects of pendulums, as applied to clocks, goes back more than four centuries. The concept of simple pendulums, which are idealised versions of real pendulums is introduced. The application of pendulums to clocks is described, with detailed discussion of the effect of inevitable differences between real pendulums and simple pendulums. In a clock, the objective is to ensure that the pendulum controls the timekeeping. However, pendulums are sometimes driven, and how this affects their behaviour is described. Pendulums are sometimes used for occult purposes. It is possible to explain some apparently occult results by using modern pendulum theory. For example, why a ring suspended inside a wine glass, by a thread from a finger, eventually strikes the glass. Pendulums have a wide range of uses in scientific instruments, engineering, and entertainment. Some examples are given as case studies. Indexed in the Book Citation Index- Science (BKCI-S)

The area of material damage models has undergone a rapid development in the past few years. This is an extensive and comprehensive survey of one- and three-dimensional damage models for elastic and inelastic solids. The state-of-the-art is reported by about 200 references. The book not only provides a rich current source of knowledge, but also describes examples of practical applications, numerical procedures, and computer codes. The style of presentation is systematic, clear, and concise and is supported by illustrative diagrams.

Self contained, this book presents a thorough introduction to the complementary notions of physical forces and material (or configurational) forces. All the required elements of continuum mechanics, deformation theory and differential geometry are also covered. This book will be a great help to many, whilst revealing to others a rather new facet of continuum mechanics in general, and elasticity in particular. An organized exposition of continuum mechanics on the material manifold is given which allows for the consideration of material inhomogeneities in their most appropriate framework. In such a frame the nonlinear elasticity of anisotropic inhomogenous materials appears to be a true field theory. Extensions to the cases of electroelasticity and magnetelasticity are then straightforward. In addition, this original approach provides systematic computational means for the evaluation of characteristic parameters which are useful in various branches of applied mechanics and mathematical physics. This is the case for path-independent integrals and energy-release rates in brittle fracture, the influence of electromagnetic fields on fracture criteria (such as in ceramics), the notion of momentum of electromagnetic fields in matter in optics, and the perturbation of solitons propagating in elastic dispersive systems.

This volume details the principles underlying rapid solidification processing, material structure and properties, and their applications. This practical resource presents a manifold approach to both amorphous and crystalline rapidly solidified metallic alloys.;Written by over 30 internationally acclaimed specialists in their respective fields, Rapidly Solidified Alloys: surveys nucleation and growth studies in undercooled melts; examines various processes for the production of rapidly solidified alloys; discusses the compaction of amorphous alloys; describes surface remelting treatments for the rapid solidification of surface layers and the resultant improved workpiece properties; covers the closely related topics of structural relaxation, atomic transport and other thermally induced processes; demonstrates microstructure-property relationships in rapidly quenched crystalline alloy systems and their beneficial effects in applications; and elucidates the basic, engineeering, and applications-oriented magnetic properties of amorphous alloys.;Furnishing more than 2300 literature citations for further study of specific subjects, Rapidly Solidified Alloys is intended for materials, mechanical, product, and civil engineers; metallurgists; magneticians; physicists; physical chemists; and graduate students in these disciplines.

This is the second of three volumes containing the proceedings of the International Colloquium 'Free Boundary Problems: Theory and Applications', held in Montreal from June 13 to June 22, 1990. The main theme of this volume is the concept of free boundary problems associated with solids. The first free boundary problem, the freezing of water - the Stefan problem - is the prototype of solidification problems which form the main part of this volume. The two sections treting this subject cover a large variety of topics and procedures, ranging from a theoretical mathematical treatment of solvability to numerical procedures for practical problems. Some new and interesting problems in solid mechanics are discussed in the first section while in the last section the important new subject of solid-solid-phase transition is examined.

This book presents a liber amicorum dedicated to Wolfgang H. Muller, and highlights recent advances in Prof. Muller's major fields of research: continuum mechanics, generalized mechanics, thermodynamics, mechanochemistry, and geomechanics. Over 50 of Prof. Muller's friends and colleagues contributed to this book, which commemorates his 60th birthday and was published in recognition of his outstanding contributions.

New developments in the response spectrum method have led to calculations in seismic stresses that are more accurate, and usually lower, than those obtained by conventional methods. This new textbook examines the wealth of information on the response spectrum method generated by the latest research and presents the background theory in simplified form.
Applications of these methods is essential in the seismic design of critical structures, such as nuclear power plants and petroleum facilities. In new construction, the reduced seismic stresses will result in efficient and economic design. For facilities already built, these more accurate methods can be used where the facility is being reassessed for higher loads and in the calculation of margins.
Written by an acknowledged expert in this and related fields, this volume is ideal as a graduate text for courses in structural and earthquake engineering. It is also an excellent reference for civil, structural, mechanical, and earthquake engineers.

This book offers a unique treatment of building insulating products and the integration of these products with building components. This book was written for all those involved in building design, specification, construction, and commissioning, providing them with an understanding of and appreciation for the wide variety of thermal insulation products and technologies available for use in all types of buildings. The book proceeds from basic definitions and discussion of heat-transfer topics and thermal insulation concepts, to the design and use of these products. The impact of thermal insulation on dynamic building performance, including factors other than heating and cooling, is also discussed. The book does not require an advanced mathematical background. The authors provide sufficient information to provide a qualitative understanding, with more mathematical sections included for those interested in modeling and analysis. The basic physics associated with heat transfer in buildings are presented, along with the steady-state and transient analysis techniques needed for the effective implementation of thermal insulation and assemblies. Modern building design involves the integration of comfort, safety, economics, durability and cost considerations, all of which impact the selection and use of thermal insulation materials in buildings. In addition to theoretical explanations of the underlying science, the book details the properties and application of new thermal insulation materials, including vacuum panels, gas-filled panels, aerogels, phase-change materials, and radiation control technologies. Given its scope, the book will be of interest to researchers and building engineers wishing to understand the latest technologies and materials available, so as to achieve reduced energy consumption in commercial and residential buildings.

This book offers a state-of-the-art overview and includes recent developments of various direct computational analysis methods. It is based on recently developed and widely employed numerical procedures for limit and shakedown analysis of structures and their extensions to a wide range of physical problems relevant to the design of materials and structural components. The book can be used as a complementary text for advanced academic courses on computational mechanics, structural mechanics, soil mechanics and computational plasticity and it can be used a research text.

The formalism processing of unbuckled solids mechanics involves several mathematical tools which are to be mastered at the same time. This volume collects the main points which take place in the course of the formalism, so that the user immediately finds what he needs without looking for it. Furthermore, the book contains a methodological formulary to guide the user in his approach.

This book gathers contributions on analytical, numerical, and application aspects of time-delay systems, under the paradigm of control theory, and discusses recent advances in these different contexts, also highlighting the interdisciplinary connections. The book will serve as a useful tool for graduate students and researchers in the fields of dynamical systems, automatic control, numerical methods, and functional analysis.

Thin shells are three-dimensional structures with a dimension (the thickness) small with respect to the two others.Such thin structures are widely used in automobileandaviation industries,or in civil engineering, because they provide animportantsti?ness, due to theircurvature,with a small weight. Fig. 0.1. Airbus A380 Fig. 0.2. Hemispherical roof (Marseille, France) One ofthechallenges is often to reduce the weight (andconsequently the thickness)oftheshells, preservingtheirsti?ness.So that it is essential to have 1 accuratemodelsforthinandevenverythinshells ,andtobeabletocomputethe displacements resultingfromagivenloading.In particular, singularities leading to fractures in some cases must be absolutely predicted a priori and ofcourse avoided (see Fig.0.3 forexample). Since the pioneeringmodels of Novozhilov-Donnell [81] and Koiter [65][66], numerous works havebeen devoted to establish linear and non linear elastic shell model usingdirect orsurfacic approaches [18][25][100]. More recently, the asymptoticmethods [87] havebeen used, to try tojustify rigorously, fromthe three-dimensional equations, the shell models obtained by direct approaches - lying onapriori assumption, andto construct new models [54][55]. This way, 1 Very thin shells are present in certain domains of industry, as plastic ?lms for pa- aging or for electronics, streched sails, or even very thin metal sheets obtained by drawing. E. Sanchez-Palencia et al.: Singular Problems in Shell Theory, LNACM 54, pp. 1-11.

model. They conclude that the models using three fitting parameters provide the best fit over a wide range of suctions. Models for soil-water characteristic curves are only useful if we have experimental data on which to base them. Agus, Leong and Rahardjo (Singapore) present a large number of experimental soil-water characteristic curves determined for two types of residual soil from Sigapore. They present data for eight different sites. This data set allows them to relate the parameters of the soil-water characteristic curves to index properties. They conclude that the relationships derived are suitable to pro vide a quick preliminary estimate of a soil-water characteristic curve. The importance of soil-water characteristic curves is emphasized by another con tribution dealing with this topic. Aung, Rahardjo, Leong and Toll (Singapore) inves tigate the relationship between mercury intrusion porosimetry measurements and soil-water characteristic curves. The porosimetry measurements are presented as soil-air characteristic curves. The slopes of the soil-air characteristic curves are found to be similar to the slopes of the soil-water characteristic curves. The equiv alent pore diameters calculated from the mercury entry value and the air entry value appear to be related. Therefore, it is suggested that porosimetry data can be used to construct an estimate of the soil-water characteristic curve."

As the focus in materials science shifts towards designing materials at the sub-micron scale - the "nanotechnology" revolution - it becomes increasingly important to characterize the mechanical properties of thin films and small volumes of material. The development of of nanoscale probes and ultrasensitive transducers for force and depth has made such measurements possible. "Nanoindentation" testing is becoming increasingly used in a wide variety of research and manufacturing areas, ranging from the testing of silicon wafers in the electronics industry to the characterization of hard coatings and other surface treatments for cutting tools, dental restoratives and other biomedical implants, and optical components.This book presents a comprehensive and detailed overview of the field of nanoindentation. The underlying theory behind the extraction of elastic modulus, hardness and other properties from the load-displacement data is discussed along with the various systematic and materials-related corrections involved. Also covered are the various methods of testing, details of an international standard for depth-sensing indentation testing, the significance of surface forces and adhesion details of commercially available instruments, and sample applications of the technique. Self-contained, the treatment is aimed at those entering the field, but by bringing together material scattered widely throughout the research literature the book will also be a useful reference for the more experienced researcher.

This book reports research findings and outcome from various discipline of engineering and technology, focusing on industrial technology operation and sustainable development. The content is the results of research done at the Research and Innovation Section of the Universiti Kuala Lumpur - MITEC as well as several experts from other institutions in Malaysia. The content describes the latest knowledge and development aligned with current trends of industrial technology operation in Malaysia.

This book contains technical papers, presented at the International Workshop on Connections and the Behaviour, Strength and Design of Steel Structures, on topics including local analysis of joints, modeling of load-deflection behaviour, methods of frame analysis, and design requirements and codes.