Composites offer great promise as light weight and strong materials for high performance structures. One of the major advantages of these materials as compared with metals is the basic way in which heterogeneity resist crack extension. In a fiber/matrix composite system, the fibers tend to cause cracks to form at closer spacing and delay the formation of a large crack. The enhancement of local failure such as fiber breaking, matrix cracking and interface debonding further reduces the energy level which might have otherwise reached the point of catastrophic failure. Even though substantial tests have been made on composite materials, little has been gained in the understanding and development of a predic tive procedure for composite failure. There are fundamental difficulties associated with incorporating the nonhomogeneous and anisotropic prop erties of the composite into the continuum mechanics analysis. Additional uncertainties arise from voids and defects that are introduced in the composite during manufacturing. Even a small quantity of mechanical imperfections can cause a marked influence on the composite strength. Moreover, the interface properties between the fibers and matrix or bonded laminae can also affect the load transmission characteristics significantly. It would be impossible to establish predictive procedures for composite failure unless realistic guidelines could be developed to control the manufacturing quality of composite systems."

In this book a systematic discussion of crack problems in elastic-plastic materials is presented. The state of the art in fracture mechanics research and assessment of cracks is documented, with the help of analytic, asymptotic methods as well as finite element computations. After a brief introduction to fracture mechanics, the two-parameter concept for stationary cracks is studied in addition to the issues in three-dimensional crack fields under coupling with strong out-of-plane effects. Cracks along interfaces and crack growth problems under mixed mode conditions are also treated. A systematic study of stress singularities for different notches is accompanied by detailed finite element computations.

"The Virtual Fields Method: Extracting Constitutive Mechanical Parameters from Full-field Deformation Measurements" is the first and only one on the Virtual Fields Method, a recent technique to identify materials mechanical properties from full-field measurements. It contains an extensive theoretical description of the method as well as numerous examples of application to a wide range of materials (composites, metals, welds, biomaterials etc.) and situations(static, vibration, high strain rate etc.). Finally, it contains a detailed training section with examples of progressive difficulty to lead the reader to program the VFM. This is accompanied with a set of commented Matlab programs as well as with a GUI Matlab based software for more general situations.

The standard textbooks on aerodynamics usually omit any discussion of un steady aerodynamics or, at most, consider it only in a single chapter, based on two justifications. The first is that unsteady aerodynamics should be regarded as a specialized subject required "only" in connection with understanding and an alyzing aeroelastic phenomena such as flutter and gust response, and therefore should be dealt with in related specialist books. The second reason appears to be reluctance to discuss aerodynamics with the inclusion of the time-dependent terms in the conservation equations and the boundary conditions for fear that added complications may discourage the reader. We take the opposite view in this book and argue that a full understanding of the physics of lift generation is possible only by considering the unsteady aerody namics of the starting vortex generation process. Furthermore, certain "steady" flows are inherently unsteady in the presence of flow separation, as for example the unsteady flow caused by the Karman vortex shedding downstream of a cylin der and "static" airfoil stall which is an inherently unsteady flow phenomenon. Therefore, it stands to reason that a unified treatment of aerodynamics that yields steady-state aerodynamics as a special case offers advantages. This rea soning is strengthened by the developments in computational fluid dynamics over the past forty years, which showed that accurate steady-state solutions can be obtained efficiently by solving the unsteady flow equations.

Multibody Dynamics is an area of Computational Mechanics which blends together various disciplines such as structural dynamics, multi-physics - chanics, computational mathematics, control theory and computer science, in order to deliver methods and tools for the virtual prototyping of complex mechanical systems. Multibody dynamics plays today a central role in the modeling, analysis, simulation and optimization of mechanical systems in a variety of ?elds and for a wide range of industrial applications. The ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics was ini- ated in Lisbon in 2003, and then continued in Madrid in 2005 with the goal of providing researchers in Multibody Dynamics with appropriate venues for exchanging ideas and results. The third edition of the Conference was held at the Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy, from June 25 to June 28, 2007. The Conference saw the participation of over 250 researchers from 32 di?- ent countries, presenting 209 technical papers, and proved to be an excellent forum for discussion and technical exchange on the most recent advances in this rapidly growing ?eld.

This is not just another book on fracture mechanics. In recent years, there have been many books published on this subject in an attempt to assess the state of the art and its applications. The majority of the work dealt with energy release rate or critical stress intensity factor and is applicable only to fracture toughness testing. The main reason for this restriction is that the energy release concept cannot easily be extended to mixed mode fracture that occurs in practice as the rule rather than the exception. Cracks will normally curve or turn because the direction of loading can change as a function of time. Their directions of growth cannot be assumed as an a priori and must be determined from a pre-assumed criterion. Analysts are still perplexed with selecting an appropriate fracture criterion because it requires much discernment and judgement. Criteria which often appeared valid for idealized situations are quickly dis credited when encountering more complex physical phenomena. Moreover, the claim of generality cannot be justified on the basis of agreement between theory and experiment for a few simple examples."

Within the last two decades fracture theory has been one of the most rapidly advancing fields of continuous media mechanics. Noteworthy suc cess has been achieved in linear fracture mechanics where the propagation of the macrocrack in elastic materials is under study. However, fracture of materials is by no means a simple process since it involves fracture of structural elements ranging from atomic sizes to macrocracks. To obtain all information about how and why materials fail, all stages of the process must be studied. For a long time both mechanical engineers and physicists have been concerned with the problem of the fracture of solids. Unfortunately, most of their work has been independent of the others. To solve the problem not only requires the minds and work of mechanical engineers and physicists but chemists and other specialists must be consulted as well. In this book we will consider some conclusions of the "physical" and "mechanical" schools acquired by the A. F. Joffe Physics-Technical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Leningrad and the Institute of Polymer Mechanics of Latvian SSR Academy of Sciences in Riga. The methods for studying the phenomena of fracture applied at both Institutes are different yet complimentary to one another; the materials tested are also sometimes different."

"Structural and Failure Mechanics of Sandwich Composites" by Leif A. Carlsson and George A. Kardomateas focuses on some important deformation and failure modes of sandwich panels such as global buckling, wrinkling and local instabilities, and face/core debonding. The book also provides the mechanics background necessary for understanding deformation and failure mechanisms in sandwich panels and the response of sandwich structural parts to a variety of loadings. Specifically, first-order and high-order sandwich panel theories, and three-dimensional elasticity solutions for the structural behavior outlined in some detail. Elasticity analysis can serve as a benchmark for judging the accuracy of simplified sandwich plate, shell and beam theories. Furthermore, the book reviews test methods developed for the characterization of the constituent face and core materials, and sandwich beams and plates. The characterization of face/core debonding is a major topic of this text, and analysis methods based on fracture mechanics are described and applied to several contemporary test specimens. Test methods and results documented in the literature are included and discussed. The book will benefit structural and materials engineers and researchers with the desire to learn more about structural behavior, failure mechanisms, fracture mechanics and damage tolerance of sandwich structures.

This book highlights relevant studies and applications in the area of robotics, which reflect the latest research, from interdisciplinary theoretical studies and computational algorithm development, to representative applications. It presents chapters on advanced control, such as fuzzy, neural, backstepping, sliding mode, adaptive, predictive, diagnosis and fault tolerant control etc. and addresses topics including cloud robotics, cable-driven robots, two-wheeled robots, mobile robots, swarm robots, hybrid vehicle, and drones. Each chapter employs a uniform structure: background, motivation, quantitative development (equations), case studies/illustration/tutorial (simulations, experiences, curves, tables, etc.), allowing readers to easily tailor the techniques to their own applications.

This is the proceedings of the IUTAM Symposium on Creep in Structures, held at Nagoya, 3-7 April 2000, which is the 5th one of this series of the IUTAM Symposia organized every then years since 1960. The present proceedings contains 48 innovative papers presented at the 5th Symposium, in which 91 participants from 15 countries participated to consolidate the development of creep research since 1990 and to discuss the new horizons in this fundamental field of applied mechanics in the coming century. the papers contained deal with (1) physical and microstructural process of creep, viscoplasticity and creep damage related to their modeling, (2) elaborated constitutive equations of time-dependent deformation and damage, (3) creep damage and fracture of engineering materials and structures, (4) computational modeling, simulation, analysis and design of structures in creep, and (5) creep of polymers, composites, and heterogeneous materials. This volume is useful for researchers and graduate course students in the relevant fields. The field of optical WDM networks has experienced widespread attention and growth in recent years.

In this book, regular structures are de ned as periodic structures consisting of repeated elements (translational symmetry) as well as structures with a geom- ric symmetry. Regular structures have for a long time been attracting the attention of scientists by the extraordinary beauty of their forms. They have been studied in many areas of science: chemistry, physics, biology, etc. Systems with geometric symmetry are used widely in many areas of engineering. The various kinds of bases under machines, cyclically repeated forms of stators, reduction gears, rotors with blades mounted on them, etc. represent regular structures. The study of real-life engineering structures faces considerable dif culties because they comprise a great number of working mechanisms that, in turn, consist of many different elastic subsystems and elements. The computational models of such systems represent a hierarchical structure and contain hundreds and thousands of parameters. The main problems in the analysis of such systems are the dim- sion reduction of model and revealing the dominant parameters that determine its dynamics and form its energy nucleus. The two most widely used approaches to the simulation of such systems are as follows: 1. Methods using lumped parameters models, i.e., a discretization of the original system and its representation as a system with lumped parameters [including nite-element method (FEM)]. 2. The use of idealized elements with distributed parameters and known analytical solutions for both the local elements and the subsystems.

The book presents interesting examples of recent developments in this area. Among the studied materials are bulk metallic glasses, metamaterials, special composites, piezoelectric smart structures, nonwovens, etc. The last decades have seen a large extension of types of materials employed in various applications. In many cases these materials demonstrate mechanical properties and performance that vary significantly from those of their traditional counterparts. Such uniqueness is sought - or even specially manufactured - to meet increased requirements on modern components and structures related to their specific use. As a result, mechanical behaviors of these materials under different loading and environmental conditions are outside the boundaries of traditional mechanics of materials, presupposing development of new characterization techniques, theoretical descriptions and numerical tools. The book presents interesting examples of recent developments in this area. Among the studied materials are bulk metallic glasses, metamaterials, special composites, piezoelectric smart structures, nonwovens, etc.

Interest in nonlinear problems in mechanics has been revived and intensified by the capacity of digital computers. Consequently, a question offundamental importance is the development of solution procedures which can be applied to a large class of problems. Nonlinear problems with a parameter constitute one such class. An important aspect of these problems is, as a rule, a question of the variation of the solution when the parameter is varied. Hence, the method of continuing the solution with respect to a parameter is a natural and, to a certain degree, universal tool for analysis. This book includes details of practical problems and the results of applying this method to a certain class of nonlinear problems in the field of deformable solid mechanics. In the Introduction, two forms of the method are presented, namely continu ous continuation, based on the integration of a Cauchy problem with respect to a parameter using explicit schemes, and discrete continuation, implementing step wise processes with respect to a parameter with the iterative improvement of the solution at each step. Difficulties which arise in continuing the solution in the neighbourhood of singular points are discussed and the problem of choosing the continuation parameter is formulated."

Reducing and controlling the level of vibration in a mechanical system leads to an improved work environment and product quality, reduced noise, more economical operation, and longer equipment life. Adequate design is essential for reducing vibrations, while damping and control methods help further reduce and manipulate vibrations when design strategies reach their limits. There are also useful types of vibration, which may require enhancement or control. Vibration Damping, Control, and Design balances theoretical and application-oriented coverage to enable optimal vibration and noise suppression and control in nearly any system. Drawn from the immensely popular Vibration and Shock Handbook, each expertly crafted chapter of this book includes convenient summary windows, tables, graphs, and lists to provide ready access to the important concepts and results. Working systematically from general principles to specific applications, coverage spans from theory and experimental techniques in vibration damping to isolation, passive control, active control, and structural dynamic modification. The book also discusses specific issues in designing for and controlling vibrations and noise such as regenerative chatter in machine tools, fluid-induced vibration, hearing and psychological effects, instrumentation for monitoring, and statistical energy analysis. This carefully edited work strikes a balance between practical considerations, design issues, and experimental techniques. Complemented by design examples and case studies, Vibration Damping, Control, and Design builds a deep understanding of the concepts and demonstrates how to apply these principles to real systems.

Actuating materials hold a promise for fast-spreading applications in smart structures and active control systems, and have attracted extensive attention from scientists of both mechanics and materials sciences communities. High performance and stability of actuating materials and structures play a decisive role in their successive applications as sensors and actuators in structural control and robotics. The advances of actuating materials, however, recently encountered a severe reliability issue. For a better understanding toward this issue, scientific efforts are of paramount significance to gain a deep insight into the intricate deformation and failure behaviors of actuating materials. To examine the state of the art in this subject, the general assembly of IUTAM approved in August, 2002 at Cambridge University, UK, a proposal to hold an IUTAM symposium to summarize the relevant research findings. The main themes of the symposium are: (i) the constitutive relations of actuating materials that couple mechanical, electrical, thermal and magnetic properties, as well as incorporate phase transformation and domain switch; (ii) the physical mechanisms of deformation, damage, and fatigue crack growth of actuating materials; (iii) the development of failure-resilient approaches that base on the macro-, meso-, and micro-mechanics analyses; (iv) the investigation of microstructural evolution, stability of phase transformation, and size effects of ferroelectric ceramics, shape memory alloys, actuating polymers, and bio-actuating materials. The above problems represent an exciting challenge and form a research thrust of both materials science and solid mechanics. The IUTAM Symposium (GA.

In the present volume numerous descriptions of Ram accelerators are presented. These descriptions provide good overview on the progress made and the present state of the Ram accelerator technology worldwide. In addition, articles describing light gas gun, ballistic range including a chapter dealing with shock waves in solids are given. Along with the technical description of considered facilities, samples of obtained results are also included. Each chapter is written by an expert in the described topic providing a comprehensive description of the discussed phenomena.

This book introduces spectral analysis as a means of investigating wave propagation and transient oscillations in structures. After developing the foundations of spectral analysis and the fast Fourier transform algorithm, the book provides a thorough treatment of waves in rods, beams, and plates, and introduces a novel matrix method for analysing complex structures as a collection of waveguides. The presentation includes an introduction to higher-order structural theories, the results of many experimental studies, practical applications, and source-code listings for many programs. An extensive bibliography provides an entry to the research literature. Intended as a textbook for graduate students of aerospace or mechanical engineering, the book will also be of interest to practising engineers in these and related disciplines.

Micro and nano-fluidics concerns fluid dynamics occurring in devices or flow configurations with minimum design length measured in micrometers or smaller. The behavior of fluids at these scales is quite different from that at the macroscopic level due to the presence of surface tension effects, wetting phenomena, Brownian diffusion and hydrodynamic interactions with immersed particles and microstructures. These effects cannot be generally represented in a classical homogeneous continuum framework. However, this triggers the development of new tools to investigate and simulate problems at the meso-scopic level.

This book contains a collection of works presented at the IUTAM Symposium on Advances on Micro and Nano-fluidics held in Dresden in 2007. It covers several subjects of wide interest for micro and nano-fluidics applications focusing on both, analytical and numerical approaches. Topics covered in particular include multi-scale particle methods for numerical simulations, liquid-wall interactions and modeling approaches, modeling of immersed nano-scale structures, organized flow behavior at micro and nano-scales, and methods for control of micro- and nano-scale flows.

Variational principles have proven to be surprisingly fertile. For example, Fermat used variational methods to demonstrate that light follows the fastest route from one point to another, an idea which came to be a cornerstone of geometrical optics. This book explains variational principles and charts their use throughout modern physics. It examines the analytical mechanics of Lagrange and Hamilton, the basic tools of any physicist. The book also offers simple but rich first impressions of Einstein’s General Relativity, Feynman’s Quantum Mechanics, and more that reveal amazing interconnections between various fields of physics.

This is the first book focusing on bifurcation dynamics in 1-dimensional polynomial nonlinear discrete systems. It comprehensively discusses the general mathematical conditions of bifurcations in polynomial nonlinear discrete systems, as well as appearing and switching bifurcations for simple and higher-order singularity period-1 fixed-points in the 1-dimensional polynomial discrete systems. Further, it analyzes the bifurcation trees of period-1 to chaos generated by period-doubling, and monotonic saddle-node bifurcations. Lastly, the book presents methods for period-2 and period-doubling renormalization for polynomial discrete systems, and describes the appearing mechanism and period-doublization of period-n fixed-points on bifurcation trees for the first time, offering readers fascinating insights into recent research results in nonlinear discrete systems.

This book covers the basics of the hydrodynamics and vibration of structures subjected to environmental loads. It describes the interaction of hydrodynamics with the associated vibration of structures, giving simple explanations. Emphasis is placed on the applications of the theory to practical problems. Several case studies are provided to show how the theory outlined in the book is applied in the design of structures. Background material needed for understanding fluid-induced vibrations of structures is given to make the book reasonably self-sufficient. Examples are taken mainly from the novel structures that are of interest today, including ocean and offshore structures and components.Besides being a text for undergraduates, this book can serve as a handy reference for design engineers and consultants involved in the design of structures subjected to dynamics and vibration.

Defects, dislocations and the general theory.- Approaches to generalized continua.- Generalized continuum modelling of crystal plasticity.- Introduction to discrete dislocation dynamics.

The book contains four lectures on generalized continua and dislocation theory, reflecting the treatment of the subject at different scales. G. Maugin provides a continuum formulation of defects at the heart of which lies the notion of the material configuration and the material driving forces of in-homogeneities such as dislocations, disclinations, point defects, cracks, phase-transition fronts and shock waves. C. Sansour and S. Skatulla start with a compact treatment of linear transformation groups with subsequent excursion into the continuum theory of generalized continua. After a critical assessment a unified framework of the same is presented. The next contribution by S. Forest gives an account on generalized crystal plasticity. Finally, H. Zbib provides an account of dislocation dynamics and illustrates its fundamental importance at the smallest scale. In three contributions extensive computational results of many examples are presented.

This volume gathers the latest advances and innovations in the field of flow-induced vibration and noise, as presented by leading international researchers at the 3rd International Symposium on Flow Induced Noise and Vibration Issues and Aspects (FLINOVIA), which was held in Lyon, France, in September 2019. It explores topics such as turbulent boundary layer-induced vibration and noise, tonal noise, noise due to ingested turbulence, fluid-structure interaction problems, and noise control techniques. The authors' backgrounds represent a mix of academia, government, and industry, and several papers include applications to important problems for underwater vehicles, aerospace structures and commercial transportation. The book offers a valuable reference guide for all those interested in measurement, modelling, simulation and reproduction of the flow excitation and flow induced structural response.

Our rationale for the second edition remains the same as for the first edition, which appeared over twenty years ago. This is to offer simplified, useful and easily understood methods for dealing with the creep of components operating under conditions met in practice. When the first edition was written, we could not claim that the methods which were introduced were well-tried. They were somewhat conjectural, although firmly based, but not sufficiently well devel oped. Since that time, the Reference Stress Methods (RSM) introduced in the book have received much scrutiny and development. The best recognition we could have of the original methods is the fact that they are now firmly embedded in codes of practice. Hopefully, we have now gone a long way towards achieving our original objectives. There are major additions to this second edition which should help to justify our claims. These include further clarification regarding Reference Stress Methods in Chapter 4. There are also new topics which depend on RSM in varying degrees: * Creep fracture is covered in Chapter 7, where methods for assessing creep crack initiation and crack growth are fully described. This chapter starts with a review of the basic concepts of fracture mechanics and follows with useful, approximate methods, compatible with the needs of design for creep and the availability of standard data. * Creep/fatigue interactions and environmental effects appear in Chapter 8.

It is weH known that the traditional failure criteria cannot adequately explain failures which occur at a nominal stress level considerably lower than the ultimate strength of the material. The current procedure for predicting the safe loads or safe useful life of a structural member has been evolved around the discipline oflinear fracture mechanics. This approach introduces the concept of a crack extension force which can be used to rank materials in some order of fracture resistance. The idea is to determine the largest crack that a material will tolerate without failure. Laboratory methods for characterizing the fracture toughness of many engineering materials are now available. While these test data are useful for providing some rough guidance in the choice of materials, it is not clear how they could be used in the design of a structure. The understanding of the relationship between laboratory tests and fracture design of structures is, to say the least, deficient. Fracture mechanics is presently at astandstill until the basic problems of scaling from laboratory models to fuH size structures and mixed mode crack propagation are resolved. The answers to these questions require some basic understanding ofthe theory and will not be found by testing more specimens. The current theory of fracture is inadequate for many reasons. First of aH it can only treat idealized problems where the applied load must be directed normal to the crack plane.