Jens Wittenburg – författare

Investigations into the dynamics of a system of rigid bodies require the formulation of nonlinear equations of motion, of energy expressions, kinematic relationships, and other quantities. It is common practice to develop these for each system separately and to consider the labor necessary for deriving e.g., equations of motion from Lagrange`s equation, as inevitable.

It is the main purpose of this book to describe in detail a formalism which substantially simplifies these tasks.

The book addresses advanced graduate students and scientists.

Die „Klassiker der Technik“ sind unveränderte Neuauflagen traditionsreicher ingenieurwissenschaftlicher Werke. Wegen ihrer didaktischen Einzigartigkeit und der Zeitlosigkeit ihrer Inhalte gehören sie zur Standardliteratur des Ingenieurs, wenn sie auch die Darstellung modernster Methoden neueren Büchern überlassen. So erschließen sich die Hintergründe vieler computergestützter Verfahren dem Verständnis nur durch das Studium des klassischen fundamentaleren Wissens. Oft bietet ein „Klassiker“ einen Fundus an wichtigen Berechnungs- oder Konstruktionsbeispielen, die auch für viele moderne Problemstellungen als Musterlösungen dienen können.

The book deals with kinematics of mechanisms. It focuses on a solid theoretical foundation and on mathematical methods applicable to the solution of problems of very diverse nature. Applications are demonstrated in a large number of fully worked-out problems. 

In kinematics a wide variety of mathematical tools is applicable. In this book, wherever possible vector equations are formulated instead of lengthy scalar coordinate equations. The principle of transference is applied to problems of very diverse nature.

15 chapters of the book are devoted to spatial kinematics and three chapters to planar kinematics. In Chapt. 19 nonlinear dynamics equations of motion are formulated for general spatial mechanisms. Nearly one half of the book is dealing with position theory and the other half with motion.

The book is intended for use as reference book for researchers and as textbook in advanced courses on kinematics of mechanisms.