Arc welding is one of the key processes in industrial manufacturing, with welders using two types of processes - gas metal arc welding (GMAW) and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). This new book provides a survey-oriented account of the modeling, sensing, and automatic control of the GMAW process.
Researchers are presented with the most recent information in the areas of modeling, sensing and automatic control of the GMAW process, collecting a number of original research results on the topic from the authors and colleagues.

Providing an overview of a variety of topics, this book looks at the classification of various welding processes; the modeling aspects of GMAW; physics of welding; metal transfer characteristics; weld pool geometry; process voltages and variables; power supplies; sensing (sensors for arc length, weld penetration control, weld pool geometry, using optical and intelligent sensors); control techniques of PI, PID, multivariable control, adaptive control, and intelligent control. Finally, the book illustrates a case study presented by the authors and their students at Idaho State University, in collaboration with researchers at the Idaho National Engineering and Environment Laboratory.

Many realistic engineering systems are large in dimension and stiff for computation. Their analysis and control require extensive numerical algorithms. The methodology of singular perturbations and time scales (SPTS), crowned with the remedial features of order reduction and stiffness relief is a powerful technique to achieve computational simplicity. This book presents the twin topics of singular perturbation methods and time scale analysis to problems in systems and control. The heart of the book is the singularly perturbed optimal control systems, which are notorious for demanding excessive computational costs. The book addresses both continuous control systems (described by differential equations) and discrete control systems (characterised by difference equations). Another feature is the extensive bibliography, which will hopefully be of great help for future study and research. Also of particular interest is the categorisation of an impressive record of applications of the methodology of SPTS in a wide spectrum of fields, such as circuits and networks, fluid mechanics and flight mechanics, biology and ecology, and robotics. This book is aimed at graduate students, applied mathematicians, scientists and engineers working in universities and industry.