Interaction of Mechanics and Mathematics - Böcker

This book primarily focuses on rigorous mathematical formulation and treatment of static problems arising in continuum mechanics of solids at large or small strains, as well as their various evolutionary variants, including thermodynamics.

Energy Methods in Dynamics is a textbook based on the lectures given by the first author at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. Its aim is to help students acquire both a good grasp of the first principles from which the governing equations can be derived, and the adequate mathematical methods for their solving. Its distinctive features, as seen from the title, lie in the systematic and intensive use of Hamilton's variational principle and its generalizations for deriving the governing equations of conservative and dissipative mechanical systems, and also in providing the direct variational-asymptotic analysis, whenever available, of the energy and dissipation for the solution of these equations. It demonstrates that many well-known methods in dynamics like those of Lindstedt-Poincare, Bogoliubov-Mitropolsky, Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser (KAM), Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin (WKB), and Whitham are derivable from this variational-asymptotic analysis.This second edition includes the solutions to all exercises as well as some new materials concerning amplitude and slope modulations of nonlinear dispersive waves.

This text presentsand studies the method of so –called noncommuting variations in VariationalCalculus. This methodwas pioneered by Vito Volterra  whonoticed that the conventional Euler-Lagrange (EL-)  equations  are not applicable in Non-Holonomic Mechanicsand  suggested to modify the basic ruleused in Variational Calculus. This book presents a survey of   VariationalCalculus with non-commutative variations and shows  that most basic properties of conventional  Euler-LagrangeEquations  are, with somemodifications,  preserved for  EL-equations with  K-twisted (defined by K)-variations.     Most of thebook can be understood by readers without strong mathematical preparation (someknowledge of Differential Geometry is necessary).  In order to make the text more accessible thedefinitions and several necessary results in Geometry are presented separatelyin Appendices  I and II Furthermore inAppendix III  a  short presentation of the Noether Theoremdescribing the relation  between thesymmetries of  the differential equationswith dissipation   and  corresponding s balance laws is presented.

This book presents theories of deformable elastic strings and rods and their application to broad classes of problems. Readers will gain insights into the formulation and analysis of models for mechanical and biological systems. Emphasis is placed on how the balance laws interplay with constitutive relations to form a set of governing equations. For certain classes of problems, it is shown how a balance of material momentum can play a key role in forming the equations of motion. The first half of the book is devoted to the purely mechanical theory of a string and its applications. The second half of the book is devoted to rod theories, including Euler’s theory of the elastica, Kirchhoff ’s theory of an elastic rod, and a range of Cosserat rod theories. A variety of classic and recent applications of these rod theories are examined. Two supplemental chapters, the first on continuum mechanics of three-dimensional continua and the second on methods from variational calculus, are included to provide relevant background for students.This book is suited for graduate-level courses on the dynamics of nonlinearly elastic rods and strings.

This book provides an accessible introduction to the variational formulation of Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics, with a novel emphasis on global descriptions of the dynamics, which is a significant conceptual departure from more traditional approaches based on the use of local coordinates on the configuration manifold. In particular, we introduce a general methodology for obtaining globally valid equations of motion on configuration manifolds that are Lie groups, homogeneous spaces, and embedded manifolds, thereby avoiding the difficulties associated with coordinate singularities.The material is presented in an approachable fashion by considering concrete configuration manifolds of increasing complexity, which then motivates and naturally leads to the more general formulation that follows. Understanding of the material is enhanced by numerous in-depth examples throughout the book, culminating in non-trivial applications involving multi-body systems.This book is written for a general audience of mathematicians, engineers, and physicists with a basic knowledge of mechanics. Some basic background in differential geometry is helpful, but not essential, as the relevant concepts are introduced in the book, thereby making the material accessible to a broad audience, and suitable for either self-study or as the basis for a graduate course in applied mathematics, engineering, or physics.

This book presents theories of deformable elastic strings and rods and their application to broad classes of problems. The second half of the book is devoted to rod theories, including Euler’s theory of the elastica, Kirchhoff ’s theory of an elastic rod, and a range of Cosserat rod theories.

Introductory textbook introducing the concept of competition of entropy and energy with various examples. Thermodynamics textbook explaining the roles of entropy and energy as prime movers of nature.

The well known transport laws of Navier-Stokes and Fourier fail for the simulation of processes on lengthscales in the order of the mean free path of a particle that is when the Knudsen number is not small enough. Thus, the proper simulation of flows in rarefied gases requires a more detailed description. This book discusses classical and modern methods to derive macroscopic transport equations for rarefied gases from the Boltzmann equation, for small and moderate Knudsen numbers, i.e. at and above the Navier-Stokes-Fourier level. The main methods discussed are the classical Chapman-Enskog and Grad approaches, as well as the new order of magnitude method, which avoids the short-comings of the classical methods, but retains their benefits. The relations between the various methods are carefully examined, and the resulting equations are compared and tested for a variety of standard problems.The book develops the topic starting from the basic description of an ideal gas, over the derivation of the Boltzmann equation, towards the various methods for deriving macroscopic transport equations, and the test problems which include stability of the equations, shock waves, and Couette flow.

Inverse scattering theory has been a particularly active and successful field in applied mathematics and engineering for the past twenty years. The increasing demands of imaging and target identification require new powerful and flexible techniques besides the existing weak scattering approximation or nonlinear optimization methods. One class of such methods comes under the general description of qualitative methods in inverse scattering theory. This textbook is an easily-accessible "class-tested" introduction to the field. It is accessible also to readers who are not professional mathematicians, thus making these new mathematical ideas in inverse scattering theory available to the wider scientific and engineering community.

With its origins in the theories of continuous distributions of dislocations and ofmetalplasticity,inhomogeneitytheoryisarichandvibrant?eldofresearch. The recognition of the important role played by con?gurational or material forces in phenomena such as growth and remodelling is perhaps its greatest present-day impetus. While some excellent comprehensive works approa- ing the subject from di?erent angles have been published, the objective of this monograph is to present a point of view that emphasizes the di?erenti- geometric aspects of inhomogeneity theory. In so doing, we follow the general lines of thought that we have propounded in many publications and presen- tions over the last two decades. Although based on these sources, this book is a stand-alone entity and contains some new results and perspectives. At the same time, it does not intend to present either a historical account of the - velopment of the subject or a comprehensive picture of the various schools of thought that can be encountered by perusing scholarly journals and attending specialized symposia. The book is divided into three parts, the ?rst of which is entirely devoted to the formulation of the theory in the absence of evolution. In other words, time is conspicuously absent from Part I. It opens with the geometric ch- acterization of material inhomogeneity within the context of simple bodies in Chapter 1, followed by extensions to second-grade and Cosserat media in Chapters 2 and 3.

Thereareabout500booksonvariationalprinciples. Theyareconcernedmostlywith the mathematical aspects of the topic. The major goal of this book is to discuss the physical origin of the variational principles and the intrinsic interrelations between them. For example, the Gibbs principles appear not as the rst principles of the theory of thermodynamic equilibrium but as a consequence of the Einstein formula for thermodynamic uctuations. The mathematical issues are considered as long as they shed light on the physical outcomes and/or provide a useful technique for direct study of variational problems. Thebookisacompletelyrewrittenversionoftheauthor’smonographVariational Principles of Continuum Mechanics which appeared in Russian in 1983. I have been postponing the English translation because I wished to include the variational pr- ciples of irreversible processes in the new edition. Reaching an understanding of this subject took longer than I expected. In its nal form, this book covers all aspects of the story. The part concerned with irreversible processes is tiny, but it determines the accents put on all the results presented. The other new issues included in the book are: entropy of microstructure, variational principles of vortex line dynamics, va- ational principles and integration in functional spaces, some stochastic variational problems, variational principle for probability densities of local elds in composites with random structure, variational theory of turbulence; these topics have not been covered previously in monographic literature.

The book reviews the two features of the variational approach: its use as a universal tool to describe physical phenomena and as a source for qualitative and quantitative methods of studying particular problems.Berdichevsky’s work differs from other books on the subject in focusing mostly on the physical origin of variational principles as well as establishing their interrelations. For example, the Gibbs principles appear as a consequence of the Einstein formula for thermodynamic fluctuations rather than as the first principles of the theory of thermodynamic equilibrium. Mathematical issues are considered as long as they shed light on the physical outcomes and/or provide a useful technique for the direct study of variational problems. In addition, a thorough account of variational principles discovered in various branches of continuum mechanics is given.This book, the second volume, describes how the variational approach can be applied to constructing models of continuum media, such as the theory of elastic plates; shells and beams; shallow water theory; heterogeneous mixtures; granular materials; and turbulence. It goes on to apply the variational approach to asymptotical analysis of problems with small parameters, such as the derivation of the theory of elastic plates, shells and beams from three-dimensional elasticity theory; and the basics of homogenization theory. A theory of stochastic variational problems is considered in detail too, along with applications to the homogenization of continua with random microstructures.

Thisbookdealswith theclassicalkinetictheoryofgases.Itsaimisto present the basic principles of this theory within an elementary framework and from a more rigorous approach based on the Boltzmann equation. The subjects are presented in a self-contained manner such that the readers can und- stand and learn some methods used in the kinetic theory of gases in order to investigate the Boltzmann equation. In Chapter 1, a sketch on the evolution of the ideas of the kinetic theory is presented. Afterwards, the basic principles of an elementary kinetic theory areintroduced,which arebasedonthe concepts ofmean freepath, molecular mean velocity and mean free time. The Maxwellian distribution function is determinedfromstatisticalarguments,andthetransportcoe?cients ofshear viscosity, thermal conductivity and self-di?usion are obtained from the e- mentary theory. The most common interaction potentials used in the kinetic theory of gases are also introduced in this chapter, and the dynamics of a binary collision is analyzed. Chapter 2 is dedicated to the study of the Boltzmann equation. First, the BoltzmannequationisderivedandtheequationsoftheBBGKYhierarchyare determined.Fromtheknowledgeofthetransferequation-whichfollowsfrom theBoltzmannequation-themacroscopicbalanceequationsforthemoments ofthedistributionfunctionarederived.Theequilibriumdistributionfunction is determined from the Boltzmann equation and the equilibrium states of a rare?ed gas are also analyzed. In this chapter, theH-theorem and the paradoxes of Loschmidt and Zermelo are discussed. The chapter ends with an analysis of the di?erent forms of the entropy which are used in statistical mechanics to describe the canonical and microcanonical ensembles.