Xinwei Wang – författare

Differential Quadrature and Differential Quadrature Based Element Methods: Theory and Applications is a comprehensive guide to these methods and their various applications in recent years. Due to the attractive features of rapid convergence, high accuracy, and computational efficiency, the differential quadrature method and its based element methods are increasingly being used to study problems in the area of structural mechanics, such as static, buckling and vibration problems of composite structures and functional material structures.

This book covers new developments and their applications in detail, with accompanying FORTRAN and MATLAB programs to help you overcome difficult programming challenges. It summarises the variety of different quadrature formulations that can be found by varying the degree of polynomials, the treatment of boundary conditions and employing regular or irregular grid points, to help you choose the correct method for solving practical problems.

The book focuses on symplectic pseudospectral methods for nonlinear optimal control problems and their applications. Both the fundamental principles and engineering practice are addressed. Symplectic pseudospectral methods for nonlinear optimal control problems with complicated factors (i.e., inequality constraints, state-delay, unspecific terminal time, etc.) are solved under the framework of indirect methods. The methods developed here offer a high degree of computational efficiency and accuracy when compared with popular direct pseudospectral methods. The methods are applied to solve optimal control problems arising in various engineering fields, particularly in path planning problems for autonomous vehicles. Given its scope, the book will benefit researchers, engineers and graduate students in the fields of automatic control, path planning, ordinary differential equations, etc.