Composite materials are increasingly used in aerospace, underwater, and automotive structures. To take advantage of the full potential of composite materials, structural analysts and designers must have accurate mathematical models and design methods at their disposal.
The objective of this monograph is to present the laminated plate theories and their finite element models to study the deformation, strength and failure of composite structures. Emphasis is placed on engineering aspects, such as the analytical descriptions, effective analysis tools, modeling of physical features, and...

This book is concerned with the static and dynamic analysis of structures. Specifi- cally, it uses the stiffness formulated matrix methods for use on computers to tackle some of the fundamental problems facing engineers in structural mechanics. This is done by covering the Mechanics of Structures, its rephrasing in terms of the Matrix Methods, and then their Computational implementation, all within a cohesivesetting. Although this book is designed primarily as a text for use at the upper-undergraduate and beginning graduate level, many practicing structural engineers will find it useful as a...

The field of structural optimization is still a relatively new field undergoing rapid changes in methods and focus. Until recently there was a severe imbalance between the enormous amount of literature on the subject, and the paucity of applications to practical design problems. This imbalance is being gradually redressed. There is still no shortage of new publications, but there are also exciting applications of the methods of structural optimizations in the automotive, aerospace, civil engineering, machine design and other engineering fields. As a result of the growing pace of applications,...

The subject of Elasticity can be approached from several points of view, depending on whether the practitioner is principally interested in the mathematicalstructure of the subject or in its use in engineering applications and in the latter case, whether essentially numerical or analytical methods are envisaged as the solution method. My first introduction to the subject was in response to a need for information about a specific problem in Tribology. As a practising engineer with a background only in elementary Strength of Materials, I approached that problem initially using the con- cepts of...

Shell structures are widely used in the fields of civil, mechanical, architectural, aeronautical, and marine engineering. Shell technology has been enhanced by the development of new materials and prefabrication schemes. Despite the mechanical advantages and aesthetic value offered by shell structures, many engineers and architects are relatively unacquinted with shell behaviour and design.
This book familiarizes the engineering and architectural student, as well as the practicing engineer and architect, with the behaviour and design aspects of shell structures. Three aspects are...

Magnetic fields are responsible for much of the variability and structuring in the universe, but only on the Sun can the basic magnetic field related processes be explored in detail. While several excellent textbooks have established a diagnostic foundation for exploring the physics of unmagnetized stellar atmospheres through spectral analysis, no corresponding treatise for magnetized stellar atmospheres has been available. The present monograph fills this gap. The theoretical foundation for the diagnostics of stellar magnetism is developed from first principles in a comprehensive way, both...

Failures of many mechanical components in service result from fatigue. The cracks which grow may either originate from some pre-existing macroscopic defect, or, if the component is of high integrity but highly stressed, a region of localized stress concentration. In turn, such concentrators may be caused by some minute defect, such as a tiny inclusion, or inadvertent machining damage. Another source of surface damage which may exist between notionally 'bonded' components is associated with minute relative motion along the interface, brought about usually be cyclic tangential loading. Such...

Not many disciplines can c1aim the richness of creative ideas that make up the subject of analytical mechanics. This is not surprising since the beginnings of analyti- cal mechanics mark also the beginnings of the theoretical treatment of other physical sciences, and contributors to analytical mechanics have been many, inc1uding the most brilliant mathematicians and theoreticians in the history of mankind. As the foundation for theoretical physics and the associated branches of the engineering sciences, an adequate command of analytical mechanics is an essential tool for any engineer,...

This collection of papers is a state of the art presentation of theories and methods related to the problem of the behaviour of mechanical structures under variable loads beyond their elastic limit In particular, the problems of shakedown, ratchetting, transient and asymptotic cyclic states are addressed. The volume is composed of four chapters devoted to material modelling for cyclic loading conditions; general theory of accommodated states of structures; effects of changes of the geometry on the inelastic structural response; and numerical techniques with applications to particular...

Finite element model updating has emerged in the 1990s as a subject of immense importance to the design, construction and maintenance of mechanical systems and civil engineering structures. This book, the first on the subject, sets out to explain the principles of model updating, not only as a research text, but also as a guide for the practising engineer who wants to get acquainted with, or use, updating techniques. It covers all aspects of model preparation and data acquisition that are necessary for updating. The various methods for parameter selection, error localisation, sensitivity and...