This book collects a high-quality selection of contemporary research and case studies on the complexity resulting from human/reliability management in industrial plants and critical infrastructures. It includes: Human-error management issues-considering how to reduce human errors as much as possible. Reliability management issues-considering the ability of a system or component to function under certain conditions for a specified period of time. Thus, the book analyses globally the problem regarding the human and reliability management to reduce human errors as much as possible and to ensure safety and security in critical infrastructures. Accidents continue to be the major concern in "critical infrastructures", and human factors have been proved to be the prime causes to accidents. Clearly, human dynamics are a challenging management function to guarantee reliability, safety and costs reduction in critical infrastructures. The book is enriched by figures, examples and extensive case studies and is a valuable reference resource for those with involved in disaster and emergency planning as well as researchers interested both in theoretical and practical aspects.

This book presents a collection of chapters on various aspects of futuristic composite materials, from manufacturing challenges to materials characterization. The book covers the scientific basis of processing and synthesizing futuristic composites, including the prerequisite theoretical background and latest fabrication techniques. The book also discusses industrial applications of composites, such as in aerospace, automotive, and sports equipment. This book will serve as a valuable guide for researchers and professionals working in the area of futuristic lightweight materials.

Among the wide variety of nonlinear mechanical systems, it appears possible to distinguish a representative class which may be characterized by the presence of threshold nonlinear positional forces. Such systems demonstrate a sudden change in the behavior of elastic and dissipative forces. This monograph addresses the systematic representation of the new methods of analysis developed by the authors recently as applied to such systems. Specific features of dynamic processes of these systems are studied. Special attention is given to an analysis of different resonant phenomena taking unusual and diverse forms. These methods are applied to the analysis of mechanical systems designed for the generation and transformation of intensive processing of an impulsive nature. These are machines for rock fragmentation, impact processing, special types of shock testing machines and many other types of machinery.

As environmental legislation concerning leaks and emissions tightens this practical reference manual is a must for all those involved with systems using leak-free (or seal-less) pumps or compressors. This handbook will enable you to understand the various designs and properties of leak-free pumps and select the right pump or compressor to ensure leak free systems whatever the application.

While there are many books about Finite Element Methods, this is among the first volume devoted to the application of FEM in spring design. It has been compiled by the working group on Finite Element Analysis of Springs, sponsored by the Japan Society of Spring Research. The monograph considers the wide spectrum of spring shapes and functions, enabling readers to use FEM to optimize designs for even the most advanced engineering cases. This book provides the theoretical background and state-of-the-art methodologies for numerical spring analysis. It also employs and explains many real-world design examples, calculated by commercial software and then compared with experimental data, to illustrate the applicability of FEM to spring analysis. Engineers already dealing with spring design will find this an excellent means of learning how to use FEM in their work, while others will find here a helpful introduction to modern spring technology and design.

This book originally appeared as a text prepared for the Defense Nuclear Agency to summarize research on dynamic pulse buckling, by the authors and their colleagues at SRI International, during the period from 1960 to 1980. The original printing of 300 copies by the DNA Press was followed shortly by a small second printing to meet the demand by readers who heard of the book from the primary recipients. This supply was also quickly exhausted, to researchers and practicing engineers outside the DNA community and to academics who wanted to include the material in courses on elastic and plastic stability of structures. Commercial publication by Martinus Nijhoff Publishers was therefore undertaken to meet the needs of this broader community. The objective of the book was to gather into a cohesive whole material that had been published in reports and the open literature during the two decade period. In the process of knitting this material together, a substantial amount of new work was done. The book therefore contains many new results never published in the open literature.

In this textbook, fundamental methods for model-based design of mechatronic systems are presented in a systematic, comprehensive form. The method framework presented here comprises domain-neutral methods for modeling and performance analysis: multi-domain modeling (energy/port/signal-based), simulation (ODE/DAE/hybrid systems), robust control methods, stochasticdynamic analysis, and quantitative evaluation of designs using system budgets. The model framework is composed of analytical dynamic models for important physical and technical domains of realization of mechatronic functions, such as multibody dynamics, digital information processing and electromechanical transducers. Building on the modeling concept of a technology-independent generic mechatronic transducer, concrete formulations for electrostatic, piezoelectric, electromagnetic, and electrodynamic transducers are presented. More than 50 fully worked out design examples clearly illustrate these methods and concepts and enable independent study of the material.

Mechanics as a fundamental science in Physics and in Engineering deals with interactions of forces resulting in motion and deformation of material bodies. Similar to other sciences Mechanics serves in the world of Physics and in that of Engineering in a di?erent way, in spite of many and increasing inter- pendencies. Machines and mechanisms are for physicists tools for cognition and research, for engineers they are the objectives of research, according to a famous statement of the Frankfurt physicist and biologist Friedrich Dessauer. Physicists apply machines to support their questions to Nature with the goal of new insights into our physical world. Engineers apply physical knowledge to support the realization process of their ideas and their intuition. Physics is an analytical Science searching for answers to questions concerning the world around us. Engineering is a synthetic Science, where the physical and ma- ematical fundamentals play the role of a kind of reinsurance with respect to a really functioning and e?ciently operating machine. Engineering is also an iterative Science resulting in typical long-time evolutions of their products, but also in terms of the relatively short-time developments of improving an existing product or in developing a new one. Every physical or mathematical Science has to face these properties by developing on their side new methods, new practice-proved algorithms up to new fundamentals adaptable to new technological developments. This is as a matter of fact also true for the ?eld of Mechanics.

This monograph focuses on the dynamical research work on crank-piston mechanisms considering basic and additional motions. In order to have full dynamical analyses of piston machines and their mechanisms, the book studies the crank-piston mechanisms with clearances in kinematic pairs. The tasks are carried out by focusing on friction, wear and impacts in mechanisms, as well as cracks formation in links and elasticity of details, with distributed and concentrated masses. Then, the reliability and durability of the mechanisms of piston machines is applied on oil and gas transportation. The monograph is meant for design specialists. It is also useful for specialists-manufacturers and designers of piston machines, scientists and lecturers, doctoral students.

High Pressure Vessels is the only book to present timely information on high pressure vessel design for student engineers, mechanical and chemical engineers who design and build these vessels, and for chemical engineers, plant engineers and facilities managers who use them. It concentrates on design issues, giving the reader comprehensive coverage of the design aspects of the ASME High Pressure System Standard and the forthcoming ASME High Pressure Vessel Code. Coverage of the safety requirements of these new standards is included, as well as offering the reader examples and original data, a glossary of terms, SI conversions, and lists of references.

This book is intended primarily as a teaching text, as well as a reference for individual study in the behavior of thin walled structural components. Such structures are widely used in the engineering profession for spacecraft, missiles, aircraft, land-based vehicles, ground structures, ocean craft, underwater vessels and structures, pressure vessels, piping, chemical processing equipment, modern housing, etc. It presupposes that the reader has already completed one basic course in the mechanics or strength of materials. It can be used for both undergraduate and graduate courses. Since beams (columns, rods), plates and shells comprise components of so many of these modern structures, it is necessary for engineers to have a working knowledge of their behavior when these structures are subjected to static, dynamic (vibration and shock) and environmental loads. Since this text is intended for both teaching and self-study, it stresses fundamental behavior and techniques of solution. It is not an encyclopedia of all research or design data, but provides the reader the wherewithal to read and study the voluminous literature. Chapter 1 introduces the three-dimensional equations oflinear elasticity, deriving them to the extent necessary to treat the following material. Chapter 2 presents, in a concise way, the basic assumptions and derives the governing equations for classical Bernoulli-Euler beams and plates in a manner that is clearly understood.

OverviewThis classic reference is a compilation of a series of gear-designing charts illustrating by simple diagrams and examples the solutions of practical problems relating to spur gears, straight-tooth bevel gears, spiral-bevel gears, helical gears for parallel shaft drives, helical (spiral) gears for angular drives, herringbone gears, and worm gears.

Plant Factory: An Indoor Vertical Farming System for Efficient Quality Food Production, Second Edition presents a comprehensive look at the implementation of plant factory (PF) practices to yield food crops for both improved food security and environmental sustainability. Edited and authored by leading experts in PF and controlled environment agriculture (CEA), the book is divided into five sections, including an Overview and the Concept of Closed Plant Production Systems (CPPS), the Basics of Physics and Physiology - Environments and Their Effects, System Design, Construction, Cultivation and Management and Plant Factories in Operation. In addition to new coverage on the rapid advancement of LED technology and its application in indoor vertical farming, other revisions to the new edition include updated information on the status of business R&D and selected commercial PFALs (plant factory with artificial lighting). Additional updates include those focused on micro and mini-PFALs for improving the quality of life in urban areas, the physics and physiology of light, the impact of PFAL on the medicinal components of plants, and the system design, construction, cultivation and management issues related to transplant production within closed systems, photoautotrophic micro-propagation and education, training and intensive business forums on PFs.

Theory of mechanisms is an applied science of mechanics that studies the relationship between geometry, mobility, topology, and relative motion between rigid bodies connected by geometric forms. Recently, knowledge in kinematics and mechanisms has considerably increased, causing a renovation in the methods of kinematic analysis. With the progress of the algebras of kinematics and the mathematical methods used in the optimal solution of polynomial equations, it has become possible to formulate and elegantly solve problems. Mechanisms: Kinematic Analysis and Applications in Robotics provides an updated approach to kinematic analysis methods and a review of the mobility criteria most used in planar and spatial mechanisms. Applications in the kinematic analysis of robot manipulators complement the material presented in the book, growing in importance when one recognizes that kinematics is a basic area in the control and modeling of robot manipulators.

Considerably simplified models of macroscopic material behavior, such as the idealization for metals of elastic-time independent plastic response with a yield (onset) criterion, have served the engineering profession well for many years. They are still basic to the design and analysis of most structural applications. In the need to use materials more effectively, there are circumstances where those traditional models are not adequate, and constitutive laws that are more physically realistic have to be employed. This is especially relevant to conditions where the inherent time dependence of inelastic deformations, referred to as "viscoplasticity," is pronounced such as at elevated temperatures and for high strain rates. Unified theories of elastic-viscoplastic material behavior, which are primarily applicable for metals and metallic alloys, combine all aspects of inelastic response into a set of time dependent equations with a single inelastic strain rate variable. For such theories, creep under constant stress, stress relaxation under constant strain, and stress-strain relations at constant rates are each special cases of a general formulation. Those equations mayor may not include a yield criterion, but models which do not separate a fully elastic region from the overall response could be considered "unified" in a more general sense. The theories have reached a level of development and maturity where they are being used in a number of sophisticated engineering applications. However, they have not yet become a standard method of material representation for general engineering practice.

This book focuses on nanocarbons (carbon nanotubes, graphene, nanoporous carbon, and carbon black) and related materials for energy conversion, including fuel cells (predominately proton exchange membrane fuel cells [PEMFC]), Li-ion batteries, and supercapacitors. Written by a group of internationally recognized researchers, it offers an in-depth review of the structure, properties, and functions of nanocarbons, and summarizes recent advances in the design, fabrication and characterization of nanocarbon-based catalysts for energy applications. As such, it is an invaluable resource for graduate students, academics and industrial scientists interested in the areas of nanocarbons, energy materials for fuel cells, batteries and supercapacitors as well as materials design, and supramolecular science.

This book contains a selection of research papers presented at the 11th and 12th International Ship Stability Workshops (Wageningen, 2010 and Washington DC, 2011) and the 11th International Conference on Stability of Ships and Ocean Vehicles (Athens, 2012). The book is directed toward the ship stability community and presents innovative ideas concerning the understanding of the physical nature of stability failures and methodologies for assessing ship stability. Particular interest of the readership is expected in relation with appearance of new and unconventional types of ships; assessment of stability of these ships cannot rely on the existing experience and has to be based on the first principles. As the complexity of the physical processes responsible for stability failure have increasingly made time-domain numerical simulation the main tool for stability assessment, particular emphasis is made on the development an application of such tools. The included papers have been selected by the editorial committee and have gone through an additional review process, with at least two reviewers allocated for each. Many of the papers have been significantly updated or expanded from their original version, in order to best reflect the state of knowledge concerning stability at the time of the book's publication. The book consist of four parts: Mathematical Model of Ship Motions in Waves, Dynamics of Large Motions, Experimental Research and Requirements, Regulations and Operations.

3D Printing: A Revolutionary Process for Industry Applications examines how some companies have already adopted 3D printing, gives guidance on critical areas such as manufacturing supply, and traces the lifecycle of 3D printing as well as cost drivers and influences. The author leverages his experience in leading engineering firms to bring together an industry-by-industry guide to the potentials of 3D printing for large-scale manufacturing and engineering. The book provides all the skills and insights that a Chief Engineer would need to address complex manufacturing problems in the real-world using 3D printing technology. As 3D printing is a rapidly growing area with the potential to transform industries, the potential for large-scale adoption involves complex systems crossing engineering disciplines. In order to use 3D printing to solve manufacturing problems in this context, an array of expertise and knowledge about technology, suppliers, the uses of 3D printing by industry, 3D printing lifecycle and cost drivers must be assembled. This book accomplishes that by introducing 3D printing technology with specific references to 18 industry sectors.

This book presents the most significant contributions to the DINAME 2017 conference, covering a range of dynamic problems to provide insights into recent trends and advances in a broad variety of fields seldom found in other proceedings volumes. DINAME has been held every two years since 1986 and is internationally recognized as a central forum for discussing scientific achievements related to dynamic problems in mechanics. Unlike many other conferences, it employs a single-session format for the oral presentations of all papers, which limits the number of accepted papers to roughly 100 and makes the evaluation process extremely rigorous. The papers gathered here will be of interest to all researchers, graduate students and engineering professionals working in the fields of mechanical and mechatronics engineering and related areas around the globe.

This Brief describes the influence of the different organic chelating agents on the topography, physical properties and phases of SPPS-deposited spinel ferrite splats. The author describes how by using the SPPS process, the coating is produced directly from a solution precursor and how all physical and chemical reactions such as evaporation, decomposition, crystallization and coating formation occur in a single step. The author details not only the innovative approach to liquid feeding, but also focuses on its effects on the spinel ferrite system. The results of experimentation as well as detailed explanations of the experiments are included.

This book discusses the application of independent continuous mapping method in predicting and the optimization of the mechanical performance of buckling with displacement, stress and static constrains. Each model is explained by mathematical theories and followed by simulation with frequently-used softwares. With abundant project data, the book is an essential reference for mechanical engineers, structural engineers and industrial designers.