"By emphasizing the three key concepts of mechanics of solids, this new edition helps engineers improve their problem-solving skills. They'll discover how these fundamental concepts underlie all of the applications presented, and they'll learn how to identify the equations needed to solve various problems. New discussions are included on literature reviews, focusing on the literature review found in proposals and research articles. Groupware communication tools including blogs, wikis and meeting applications are covered. More information is also presented on transmittal letters and PowerPoint style presentations. And with the addition of detailed example problems, engineers will learn how to organize their solutions."--

This book discusses bulk solids that derive their mechanical properties not from those of their base materials, but from their designed microstructures. Focusing on the negative mechanical properties, it addresses topics that reveal the counter-intuitive nature of solids, specifically the negativity of properties that are commonly positive, such as negative bulk modulus, negative compressibility, negative hygroexpansion, negative thermal expansion, negative stiffness phase, and negative Poisson's ratio. These topics are significant not only due to the curiosity they have sparked, but also because of the possibility of designing materials and structures that can behave in ways that are not normally expected in conventional solids, and as such, of materials that can outperform solids and structures made from conventional materials. The book includes illustrations to facilitate learning, and, where appropriate, reference tables. The presentation is didactic, starting with simple cases, followed by increasingly complex ones. It provides a solid foundation for graduate students, and a valuable resource for practicing materials engineers seeking to develop novel materials through the judicious design of microstructures and their corresponding mechanisms.

The topics addressed in this book cover the whole range of kinematic analysis, synthesis and design and consider robotic systems possessing serial, parallel and cable driven mechanisms. The robotic systems range from being less than fully mobile to kinematically redundant to over constrained.

The fifty-six contributions report the latest results in robot kinematics with emphasis on emerging areas such as design and control of humanoids or humanoid subsystems. The book is of interest to researchers wanting to bring their knowledge up to date regarding modern topics in one of the basic disciplines in robotics, which relates to the essential property of robots, the motion of mechanisms.

This volume includes contributions presented at the Fifth IFToMM Symposium on the History of Machines and Mechanisms, held at Universidad Autonoma de Queretaro, Santiago de Queretaro, QRO, Mexico, in June 2016. It contains work on theories and facts concerning mechanisms and machines from antiquity to current times as viewed in the present day. Topics include modern reviews of past works; people, history, and their works; direct memories of the recent past; historic development theories; the history of the design of machines and mechanisms; developments of mechanical design and automation; the historic development of teaching; the history of schools of engineering and the education of engineers.

This is the first monograph dedicated entirely to problems of stability and chaotic behaviour in planetary systems and its subsystems. The author explores the three rapidly developing interplaying fields of resonant and chaotic dynamics of Hamiltonian systems, the dynamics of Solar system bodies, and the dynamics of exoplanetary systems. The necessary concepts, methods and tools used to study dynamical chaos (such as symplectic maps, Lyapunov exponents and timescales, chaotic diffusion rates, stability diagrams and charts) are described and then used to show in detail how the observed dynamical architectures arise in the Solar system (and its subsystems) and in exoplanetary systems. The book concentrates, in particular, on chaotic diffusion and clearing effects. The potential readership of this book includes scientists and students working in astrophysics, planetary science, celestial mechanics, and nonlinear dynamics.

This book presents a range of fundamentally new approaches to solving problems involving traditional molecular models. Fundamental molecular symmetry is shown to open new avenues for describing molecular dynamics beyond standard perturbation techniques. Traditional concepts used to describe molecular dynamics are based on a few fundamental assumptions, the ball-and-stick picture of molecular structure and the respective perturbative treatment of different kinds of couplings between otherwise separate motions. The book points out the conceptual limits of these models and, by focusing on the most essential idea of theoretical physics, namely symmetry, shows how to overcome those limits by introducing fundamentally new concepts. The book begins with an introduction to molecular symmetry in general, followed by a discussion of nuclear spin symmetry. Here, a new correlation between identical particle exchange and spin angular momentum symmetry of nuclei is exhibited. The central part of the book is the discussion of extremely floppy molecules, which are not describable in the framework of traditional theories. The book introduces a fundamentally new approach to describing the molecular dynamics of these molecules - the super-rotor model, which is based on a five-dimensional symmetry that has never been observed in molecules before. By applying the super-rotor theory to the prototype of floppy molecules, protonated methane, this model can consistently predict the symmetry and energy of low-energy states, which were characterized experimentally only a few years ago. The theoretical predictions agree with the experimental results, which makes the prospect of further developing the super-rotor theory and applying it to other molecules a promising one. In the final section, the book also covers the topic of ultrafast rotations, where usual quantum calculations reach their natural limits. A semi-classical method for determining rotational energies, developed in the early 1990s, is shown to be attachable to quantum calculations of the vibrational states. This new combined method is suitable for efficiently calculating ro-vibrational energies, even for molecular states with large angular momentum.

This book focuses on the synthesis of lower-mobility parallel manipulators, presenting a group-theory-based method that has the advantage of being geometrically intrinsic. Rotations and translations of a rigid body as well as a combination of the two can be expressed and handled elegantly using the group algebraic structure of the set of rigid-body displacements. The book gathers the authors' research results, which were previously scattered in various journals and conference proceedings, presenting them in a unified form. Using the presented method, it reveals numerous novel architectures of lower-mobility parallel manipulators, which are of interest to those in the robotics community. More importantly, readers can use the method and tool to develop new types of lower-mobility parallel manipulators independently.

This work focuses on the fundamentals of MMCs for engineers and designers. The new edition addresses new issues and developments in the areas of automotive, aerospace, electronics and consumer applications. These include continuous fiber reinforced MMCs for cables in power transmission, high temperature superconducting wires, particulate MMCs in civilian aircraft and automotive applications, and high volume fraction, high thermal conductivity substrates for electronic packaging. The coverage is thorough and cohesive, and emphasizes the synergistic relationships among processing, structure and properties of metal matrix composites.

This book discusses the thermal-elastic mechanics problems of concrete rectangular thin plate. Using theoretical derivation combined with numerical examples, it explains in detail the analytical solution of the deflection, bending moment, thermal vibration and thermal buckling of concrete rectangular thin plate. To facilitate application, the book also includes deflection and bending moment calculation tables of concrete rectangular thin plate with four edges supported and with free boundary conditions.

IFToMM conferences have a history of success due to the various advances achieved in the field of rotor dynamics over the past three decades. These meetings have since become a leading global event, bringing together specialists from industry and academia to promote the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and information on the latest developments in the dynamics of rotating machinery. The scope of the conference is broad, including e.g. active components and vibration control, balancing, bearings, condition monitoring, dynamic analysis and stability, wind turbines and generators, electromechanical interactions in rotor dynamics and turbochargers. The proceedings are divided into four volumes. This first volume covers the following main topics: Active Components and Vibration Control; Balancing; Bearings: Fluid Film Bearings, Magnetic Bearings, Rolling Bearings and Seals; and Blades, Bladed Systems and Impellers.

This book highlights time reversal acoustics, techniques based on the symmetry properties of acoustic fields. It has the unique feature that the first eleven chapters of the book are on the indepth studies of the theories of time reversal acoustics. The remaining chapters are on the four major applications of time reversal acoustics, together with their experimental setups and case studies: underwater communication, seismic exploration,nondestructive evaluation, and medical ultrasound imaging.. The gauge invariance approach to acoustic fields, proposed by the author in 2007, is confirmed by the successful fabrication of acoustical metamaterials and the applications of time reversal acoustics to superresolution. The book also presents groundbreaking applications of time reversal acoustics to underwater communication technology and the application of metamaterials to time reversal acoustics.

This book is designed to help athletes and individuals interested in high sports performance in their journey towards the perfection of human sports abilities and achievements. It has two main goals: accelerating the acquisition of motor skills and preparing and vigilantly reducing the recovery time after training and competition. The Diamond Sports Protocol (DSP) presents state-of-the-art techniques for current sport and health technologies, particularly neuromuscular electrical stimulation (Sports Wave), oxygen infusion (Oxy Sports), infrared (Sports Infrared Dome) and lactic acid cleaning (Turbo Sports). The book suggest DSP as an essential part of every future athlete's training, competition and health maintenance. The book is for everyone interested in superior sports performance, fast and effective rehabilitation from training and competition and sports injury prevention.

The principle aim of the book is to present a self-contained, modern account of similarity and symmetry methods, which are important mathematical tools for both physicists, engineers and applied mathematicians. The idea is to provide a balanced presentation of the mathematical techniques and applications of symmetry methods in mathematics, physics and engineering. That is why it includes recent developments and many examples in finding systematically conservation laws, local and nonlocal symmetries for ordinary and partial differential equations. The role of continuous symmetries in classical and quantum field theories is exposed at a technical level accessible even for non specialists. The importance of symmetries in continuum mechanics and mechanics of materials is highlighted through recent developments, such as the construction of constitutive models for various materials combining Lie symmetries with experimental data. As a whole this book is a unique collection of contributions from experts in the field, including specialists in the mathematical treatment of symmetries, researchers using symmetries from a fundamental, applied or numerical viewpoint. The book is a fascinating overview of symmetry methods aimed for graduate students in physics, mathematics and engineering, as well as researchers either willing to enter in the field or to capture recent developments and applications of symmetry methods in different scientific fields.

Expand your design horizons with a thorough, integrated knowledge of laminate mechanics and design optimization techniques
Offering a thorough treatment of both contemporary design optimization techniques and the mechanics of composite laminates, Design and Optimization of Laminated Composite Materials broadens engineers' design horizons by providing them with the information they need to take full advantage of this important class of composite materials. Intended to serve as an undergraduate- to graduate-level course text or a professional reference for practicing engineers, it features a rational, integrated presentation, supplemented with case examples, practice exercises, and valuable programming tips. Important features include:
* An integrated approach to the analysis and design of laminated composites
* Selected optimization methods that are suited to the design of laminates with discrete thickness and orientation angles
* Guidelines on getting the most out of numerical and graphical software applications for laminate optimization problems
* A companion Web site containing valuable Mathematica(TM)-based programs and helpful tutorials: www.composite-design.vt.edu

The book presents the work of the RILEM Technical Committee 261-CCF, which organized the challenging International Round Robin Test (RRT) on the creep behaviour of Fibre Reinforce Concrete (FRC) cracked specimens. Although different creep test methodologies have been developed in recent years, the absence of a standardised creep methodology hindered general comparisons. Therefore, the RILEM TC 261-CCF launched an ambitious international RRT program to improve the knowledge on long-term behaviour of cracked sections of FRC and assess all the different testing methodologies, assuming the big variability of testing criteria among the scientific community. The participation of 19 laboratories across 20 institutions in 14 countries all over the world enabled the realisation of the largest experimental campaign on creep in the cracked state. As a result of the RRT, an extensive database of creep test results was created containing comprehensive information from 124 cracked FRC specimens tested using different creep testing procedures in agreed conditions. The book will benefit academics and practitioners interested in the long-term behaviour of FRC since it served as basis for the recently published RILEM Recommendation on creep testing procedure and represents the current knowledge on creep in cracked FRC specimens.

The book includes high-quality papers presented at the 4th International Conference on Smart Learning Ecosystems and Regional Development at Universita Roma Tor Vergata, Italy, from 22 to 24 May, 2019. Providing insights into the relevance of smart learning ecosystems (schools, campuses, the workplace, informal learning contexts, etc.) for regional development and social innovation, it also discusses how citizens' involvement with smart ecosystems can be increased and made more effective.

This text records the Proceedings of the IUTAM Symposium held in Cambridge in 1995. It contains 35 articles by leading authorities and addresses the modelling of fracture from a variety of perspectives, ranging over mechanics, material science, physics, geophysics, and nonlinear dynamics. The most important single practical question addressed is that of scale. This is considered in relation to nonlinear material behaviour, micromechanics and statistical variations, and the interaction of these aspects. Certain aspects of the subject have experienced significant advance, from one or other of the standpoints of physics, materials science or mechanics. This book is intended to contribute towards the wider dissemination of these advances and the development of a unified perspective. It will be useful to those active in research in fracture who wish to gain an overview of the subject, taking advantage of insights gained from the whole range of this expertise.

The book covers various topics of heat transfer. It explains and analyzes several techniques and modes of heat transfer such as conduction in stationary media, convection in moving media and also by radiation. It is primarily a text book useful for undergraduate and postgraduate students. The book should also interest practicing engineers who wish to refresh their knowledge in the field. The book presents the various topics in a systematic way starting from first principles. The topics are developed to a fairly advanced level towards the end of each chapter. Several worked examples illustrate the engineering applications of the basic modeling tools developed in the text. The exercises at the end of the book are arranged chapter wise and challenge the reader to tackle typical real-life problems in heat transfer. This book will be of potential use for students of mechanical engineering, chemical engineering and metallurgy in most engineering colleges.

This textbook is ideal for mechanical engineering students preparing to enter the workforce during a time of rapidly accelerating technology, where they will be challenged to join interdisciplinary teams. It explains system dynamics using analogies familiar to the mechanical engineer while introducing new content in an intuitive fashion. The fundamentals provided in this book prepare the mechanical engineer to adapt to continuous technological advances with topics outside traditional mechanical engineering curricula by preparing them to apply basic principles and established approaches to new problems. This book also: * Reinforces the connection between the subject matter and engineering reality * Includes an instructor pack with the online publication that describes in-class experiments with minimal preparation requirements * Provides content dedicated to the modeling of modern interdisciplinary technological subjects, including opto-mechanical systems, high-speed manufacturing equipment, and measurement systems * Incorporates MATLAB (R) programming examples throughout the text * Incorporates MATLAB (R) examples that animate the dynamics of systems

In this book advanced balancing methods for planar and spatial linkages, hand operated and automatic robot manipulators are presented. It is organized into three main parts and eight chapters. The main parts are the introduction to balancing, the balancing of linkages and the balancing of robot manipulators. The review of state-of-the-art literature including more than 500 references discloses particularities of shaking force/moment balancing and gravity compensation methods. Then new methods for balancing of linkages are considered. Methods provided in the second part of the book deal with the partial and complete shaking force/moment balancing of various linkages. A new field for balancing methods applications is the design of mechanical systems for fast manipulation. Special attention is given to the shaking force/moment balancing of robot manipulators. Gravity balancing methods are also discussed. The suggested balancing methods are illustrated by numerous examples.

This textbook consists primarily of notes by Iain Finnie who taught a popular course on fracture mechanics at the University of California at Berkeley. It presents a comprehensive and detailed exposition of fracture, the fundamentals of fracture mechanics and procedures for the safe design of engineering components made from metal alloys, brittle materials like glasses and ceramics, and composites. Interesting and practical problems are listed at the end of most chapters to give the student practice in applying the theory. A solutions manual is provided to the instructor. The text presents a unified perspective of fracture with a strong fundamental foundation and practical applications. In addition to its role as a text, this reference would be invaluable for the practicing engineer who is involved in the design and evaluation of components that are fracture critical. This book also: Presents details of derivations of the basic equations of fracture mechanics and the historical context of the development of fracture theory and methodology Treats linear and nonlinear fracture mechanics methodologies beginning with a review of the basic equations of solid mechanics followed by solutions useful in fracture prediction Illustrates the basis of linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM), practical applications of LEFM in the design of fracture-tolerant structural components Offers interesting, practical, classroom proven problems at the end of most chapters Includes instructor's solutions manual

Due to their high stiffness and strength and their good processing properties short fibre reinforced thermoplastics are well-established construction materials. Up to now, simulation of engineering parts consisting of short fibre reinforced thermoplastics has often been based on macroscopic phenomenological models, but deformations, damage and failure of composite materials strongly depend on their microstructure. The typical modes of failure of short fibre thermoplastics enriched with glass fibres are matrix failure, rupture of fibres and delamination, and pure macroscopic consideration is not sufficient to predict those effects. The typical predictive phenomenological models are complex and only available for very special failures. A quantitative prediction on how failure will change depending on the content and orientation of the fibres is generally not possible, and the direct involvement of the above effects in a numerical simulation requires multi-scale modelling. One the one hand, this makes it possible to take into account the properties of the matrix material and the fibre material, the microstructure of the composite in terms of fibre content, fibre orientation and shape as well as the properties of the interface between fibres and matrix. On the other hand, the multi-scale approach links these local properties to the global behaviour and forms the basis for the dimensioning and design of engineering components. Furthermore, multi-scale numerical simulations are required to allow efficient solution of the models when investigating three-dimensional problems of dimensioning engineering parts. Bringing together mathematical modelling, materials mechanics, numerical methods and experimental engineering, this book provides a unique overview of multi-scale modelling approaches, multi-scale simulations and experimental investigations of short fibre reinforced thermoplastics. The first chapters focus on two principal subjects: the mathematical and mechanical models governing composite properties and damage description. The subsequent chapters present numerical algorithms based on the Finite Element Method and the Boundary Element Method, both of which make explicit use of the composite's microstructure. Further, the results of the numerical simulations are shown and compared to experimental results. Lastly, the book investigates deformation and failure of composite materials experimentally, explaining the applied methods and presenting the results for different volume fractions of fibres. This book is a valuable resource for applied mathematics, theoretical and experimental mechanical engineers as well as engineers in industry dealing with modelling and simulation of short fibre reinforced composites.

This thesis studies the effects of superplasticizers, polyacrylate latexes and asphalt emulsions, which differ in molecular/particle size from nanometers to microns, on the rheological properties of fresh cement pastes (FCPs), as well as the action mechanisms involved. It systematically investigates the rheological properties and microstructure of cement-based materials, and elucidates the adsorption behaviors of polycarboxylate polymers with different functional groups and their effects on cement hydration. Moreover, it reveals how the working mechanism of naphthalene sulfonate formaldehyde (NSF) differs from that of polycarboxylate ether-based (PCE) superplasticizers. Lastly, it develops a conceptual microstructure model and two rheological equations. These findings lend theoretical support to the development of new chemical admixtures and new, higher-performance, cement-based composites.

The fuel consumption of a modern combustion engine is one of the most important purchase criteria in contemporary society. Increasing oil prices and exhaust emissions taxes force the automotive industry to continuously improve the vehicle engines. The fuel consumption is closely related to the frictional losses of an engine. New material pairings or constructive modifications of the piston group can reduce such losses. Another innovative concept to lower the frictional forces is the micro-structuring of thermo-mechanically highly stressed surfaces. Within an interdisciplinary research group sponsored by the German Research Foundation, scientists at the Leibniz Universitat Hannover and Universitat Kassel have been working together to investigate this research topic. This final report presents their findings and offers scope for further discussion.

This volume contains the Proceedings of the First International Conference of IFToMM Italy (IFIT2016), held at the University of Padova, Vicenza, Italy, on December 1-2, 2016. The book contains contributions on the latest advances on Mechanism and Machine Science. The fifty-nine papers deal with such topics as biomechanical engineering, history of mechanism and machine science, linkages and mechanical controls, multi-body dynamics, reliability, robotics and mechatronics, transportation machinery, tribology, and vibrations.