As it was already seen in the first volume of the present book, its guideline is precisely the mathematical model of mechanics. The classical models which we refer to are in fact models based on the Newtonian model of mechanics, on its five principles, i. e. : the inertia, the forces action, the action and reaction, the parallelogram and the initial conditions principle, respectively. Other models, e. g. , the model of attraction forces between the particles of a discrete mechanical system, are part of the considered Newtonian model. Kepler's laws brilliantly verify this model in case of velocities much smaller than the light velocity in vacuum. The non-classical models are relativistic and quantic. Mechanics has as object of study mechanical systems. The first volume of this book dealt with particle dynamics. The present one deals with discrete mechanical systems for particles in a number greater than the unity, as well as with continuous mechanical systems. We put in evidence the difference between these models, as well as the specificity of the corresponding studies; the generality of the proofs and of the corresponding computations yields a common form of the obtained mechanical results for both discrete and continuous systems. We mention the thoroughness by which the dynamics of the rigid solid with a fixed point has been presented. The discrete or continuous mechanical systems can be non-deformable (e. g.

All phenomena in nature are characterized by motion. Mechanics deals with the objective laws of mechanical motion of bodies, the simplest form of motion. In the study of a science of nature, mathematics plays an important role. Mechanics is the first science of nature which has been expressed in terms of mathematics, by considering various mathematical models, associated to phenomena of the surrounding nature. Thus, its development was influenced by the use of a strong mathematical tool. As it was already seen in the first two volumes of the present book, its guideline is precisely the mathematical model of mechanics. The classical models which we refer to are in fact models based on the Newtonian model of mechanics, that is on its five principles, i.e.: the inertia, the forces action, the action and reaction, the independence of the forces action and the initial conditions principle, respectively. Other models, e.g., the model of attraction forces between the particles of a discrete mechanical system, are part of the considered Newtonian model. Kepler's laws brilliantly verify this model in case of velocities much smaller then the light velocity in vacuum."

The notion of group is fundamental in our days, not only in mathematics, but also in classical mechanics, electromagnetism, theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, theory of elementary particles, etc. This notion has developed during a century and this development is connected with the names of great mathematicians as E. Galois, A. L. Cauchy, C. F. Gauss, W. R. Hamilton, C. Jordan, S. Lie, E. Cartan, H. Weyl, E. Wigner, and of many others. In mathematics, as in other sciences, the simple and fertile ideas make their way with difficulty and slowly; however, this long history would have been of a minor interest, had the notion of group remained connected only with rather restricted domains of mathematics, those in which it occurred at the beginning. But at present, groups have invaded almost all mathematical disciplines, mechanics, the largest part of physics, of chemistry, etc. We may say, without exaggeration, that this is the most important idea that occurred in mathematics since the invention of infinitesimal calculus; indeed, the notion of group expresses, in a precise and operational form, the vague and universal ideas of regularity and symmetry. The notion of group led to a profound understanding of the character of the laws which govern natural phenomena, permitting to formulate new laws, correcting certain inadequate formulations and providing unitary and non contradictory formulations for the investigated phenomena."

This book examines the study of mechanical systems as well as its links to other sciences of nature. It presents the fundamentals behind how mechanical theories are constructed and details the solving methodology and mathematical tools used: vectors, tensors and notions of field theory. It also offers continuous and discontinuous phenomena as well as various mechanical magnitudes in a unitary form by means of the theory of distributions.

Deformable solids have a particularly complex character; mathematical modeling is not always simple and often leads to inextricable difficulties of computation. One of the simplest mathematical models and, at the same time, the most used model, is that of the elastic body - especially the linear one. But, notwithstanding its simplicity, even this model of a real body may lead to great difficulties of computation.

The practical importance of a work about the theory of elasticity, which is also an introduction to the mechanics of deformable solids, consists of the use of scientific methods of computation in a domain in which simplified methods are still used.

This treatise takes into account the consideration made above, with special attention to the theoretical study of the state of strain and stress of a deformable solid.The book draws on the known specialized literature, as well as the original results of the author and his 50+ years experience as Professor of Mechanics and Elasticity at the University of Bucharest. The construction of mathematical models is made by treating geometry and kinematics of deformation, mechanics of stresses and constitutive laws. Elastic, plastic and viscous properties are thus put in evidence and the corresponding theories are developed. Space problems are treated and various particular cases are taken into consideration. New solutions for boundary value problems of finite and infinite domains are given and a general theory of concentrated loads is built. Anisotropic and non-homogeneous bodies are studied as well. Cosserat type bodies are also modeled. The connection with thermal and viscous phenomena will be considered too.

Audience: researchers in applied mathematics, mechanical and civil engineering.

This book has its source in the authors' wish to create a bridge between the mathematical and the technical disciplines, which need a good knowledge of a strong mathematical tool. The necessity of such an interdisciplinary work drove the authors to publish a first book to this aim with Editura Tehnica, Bucharest, Romania. The present book is a new, English edition of the volume published in 1999. It contains many improvements concerning the theoretical (mathematical) information, as well as new topics, using enlarged and updated references. Only ordinary differential equations and their solutions in an analytical frame were considered, leaving aside their numerical approach. The problem is firstly stated in its mechanical frame. Then the mathematical model is set up, emphasizing on the one hand the physical magnitude playing the part of the unknown function and on the other hand the laws of mechanics that lead to an ordinary differential equation or system.

Deformable solids have a particularly complex character; mathematical modeling is not always simple and often leads to inextricable difficulties of computation. One of the simplest mathematical models and, at the same time, the most used model, is that of the elastic body - especially the linear one. But, notwithstanding its simplicity, even this model of a real body may lead to great difficulties of computation. The practical importance of a work about the theory of elasticity, which is also an introduction to the mechanics of deformable solids, consists of the use of scientific methods of computation in a domain in which simplified methods are still used. This treatise takes into account the consideration made above, with special attention to the theoretical study of the state of strain and stress of a deformable solid. The book draws on the known specialized literature, as well as the original results of the author and his 50+ years experience as Professor of Mechanics and Elasticity at the University of Bucharest. The construction of mathematical models is made by treating geometry and kinematics of deformation, mechanics of stresses and constitutive laws. Elastic, plastic and viscous properties are thus put in evidence and the corresponding theories are developed. Space problems are treated and various particular cases are taken into consideration. New solutions for boundary value problems of finite and infinite domains are given and a general theory of concentrated loads is built. Anisotropic and non-homogeneous bodies are studied as well. Cosserat type bodies are also modeled. The connection with thermal and viscous phenomena will be considered too. Audience: researchers in applied mathematics, mechanical and civil engineering.

The present book has its source in the authors wish to create a bridge between the mathematical and the technical disciplines, which need a good knowledge of a strong mathematical tool. The necessity of such an interdisciplinary work drove the authors to publish a first book to this aim with Editura Tehnica, Bucharest, Romania.
The present book is a new, English edition of the volume published in 1999. It contains many improvements concerning the theoretical (mathematical) information, as well as new topics, using enlarged and updated references. Only ordinary differential equations and their solutions in an analytical frame were considered, leaving aside their numerical approach.
The problem is firstly stated in its mechanical frame. Then the mathematical model is set up, emphasizing on the one hand the physical magnitude playing the part of the unknown function and on the other hand the laws of mechanics that lead to an ordinary differential equation or system. The solution is then obtained by specifying the mathematical methods described in the corresponding theoretical presentation. Finally a mechanical interpretation of the solution is provided, this giving rise to a complete knowledge of the studied phenomenon.
The number of applications was increased, and many of these problems appear currently in engineering. "

All phenomena in nature are characterized by motion. Mechanics deals with the objective laws of mechanical motion of bodies, the simplest form of motion. In the study of a science of nature, mathematics plays an important role. Mechanics is the first science of nature which has been expressed in terms of mathematics, by considering various mathematical models, associated to phenomena of the surrounding nature. Thus, its development was influenced by the use of a strong mathematical tool. As it was already seen in the first two volumes of the present book, its guideline is precisely the mathematical model of mechanics. The classical models which we refer to are in fact models based on the Newtonian model of mechanics, that is on its five principles, i.e.: the inertia, the forces action, the action and reaction, the independence of the forces action and the initial conditions principle, respectively. Other models, e.g., the model of attraction forces between the particles of a discrete mechanical system, are part of the considered Newtonian model. Kepler's laws brilliantly verify this model in case of velocities much smaller then the light velocity in vacuum."

As it was already seen in the first volume of the present book, its guideline is precisely the mathematical model of mechanics. The classical models which we refer to are in fact models based on the Newtonian model of mechanics, on its five principles, i. e. : the inertia, the forces action, the action and reaction, the parallelogram and the initial conditions principle, respectively. Other models, e. g. , the model of attraction forces between the particles of a discrete mechanical system, are part of the considered Newtonian model. Kepler's laws brilliantly verify this model in case of velocities much smaller than the light velocity in vacuum. The non-classical models are relativistic and quantic. Mechanics has as object of study mechanical systems. The first volume of this book dealt with particle dynamics. The present one deals with discrete mechanical systems for particles in a number greater than the unity, as well as with continuous mechanical systems. We put in evidence the difference between these models, as well as the specificity of the corresponding studies; the generality of the proofs and of the corresponding computations yields a common form of the obtained mechanical results for both discrete and continuous systems. We mention the thoroughness by which the dynamics of the rigid solid with a fixed point has been presented. The discrete or continuous mechanical systems can be non-deformable (e. g.

All phenomena in nature are characterized by motion; this is an essential property of matter, having infinitely many aspects. Motion can be mechanical, physical, chemical or biological, leading to various sciences of nature, mechanics being one of them. Mechanics deals with the objective laws of mechanical motion of bodies, the simplest form of motion.

In the study of a science of nature mathematics plays an important role. Mechanics is the first science of nature which was expressed in terms of mathematics by considering various mathematical models, associated to phenomena of the surrounding nature. Thus, its development was influenced by the use of a strong mathematical tool; on the other hand, we must observe that mechanics also influenced the introduction and the development of many mathematical notions.

In this respect, the guideline of the present book is precisely the mathematical model of mechanics. A special accent is put on the solving methodology as well as on the mathematical tools used; vectors, tensors and notions of field theory. Continuous and discontinuous phenomena, various mechanical magnitudes are presented in a unitary form by means of the theory of distributions. Some appendices give the book an autonomy with respect to other works, special previous mathematical knowledge being not necessary.

Some applications connected to important phenomena of nature are presented, and this also gives one the possibility to solve problems of interest from the technical, engineering point of view. In this form, the book becomes we dare say a unique outline of the literature in the field; the author wishes to present the most important aspects connected with the study of mechanical systems, mechanics being regarded as a science of nature, as well as its links to other sciences of nature. Implications in technical sciences are not neglected."

Advanced composite materials engineering is one of the most important area of research and development at the present time. Composite materials are a mixture of two or more different components, whose properties complement each other, and the result is a material with superior properties to those specific to each component. The utilization of composite materials is growing fast in strategic fields such as the aircraft, automotive, biomedical, naval and space industries, as well as in textile, paints, magnetic fluids, high-quality paper coatings, and microelectronics. These Proceedings of the 4th International Conference "Advanced Composite Materials Engineering" COMAT 2012 include 67 papers, which analyse many important practical applications. The topics range from wood engineering, sonic composite visualization, asphalt mixtures with polypropylene fibers and dental filling materials, to design optimization of composite stiffened structures for aerospace applications, new lignocellulosic composite materials, incorporation of different inorganic nanoparticles in polymer matrix, and carbon fiber reinforced polymer-matrix composites.

These Proceedings of the 5th International Conference "Computational Mechanics and Virtual Engineering" COMAT 2013 include 58 papers, which analyze many important practical applications. The topics range from numerical simulations regarding the determination of stresses in all plies of various composite laminates, structural synthesis for redundant industrial robots with more than 6 axes, and the sound attenuation in a sonic composite with point defects studied using a new method that combines the features of the cnoidal method and the genetic algorithm, to a set of dual vectors based methods for rigid body displacement and motion parameterization, vibrations of heterogeneous curved beams subjected to a radial force at the crown point, and computation of the longitudinal tensile break stress of multiphase composite materials with short fibers as reinforcement.