The decision of the General Assembly of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics to organize a Symposium on Dynamics of Slender Vortices was greeted with great enthusiasm. The acceptance of the proposal, forwarded by the Deutsches Komitee fiir Mechanik (DEKOMECH) signalized, that there was a need for discussing the topic chosen in the frame the IUTAM Symposia offer. Also the location of the symposium was suitably chosen: It was decided to hold the symposium at the RWTH Aachen, where, years ago, Theodore von Karman had worked on problems related to those to be discussed now anew. It was clear from the beginning of the planning, that the symposium could only be held in the von Karman-Auditorium ofthe Rheinisch-Westfalische Technische Hochschule Aachen, a building named after him. The symposium was jointly organized by the editors of this volume, strongly supported by the local organizing committee. The invitations of the scientific committee brought together scientists actively engaged in research on the dynamics of slender vortices. It was the aim of the committee to have the state of the art summarized and also to have the latest results of specific problems investigated communicated to the participants of the symposium. The topics chosen were asymptotic theories, numerical methods, vor tices in shear layers, interaction of vortices, vortex breakdown, vortex sound, and aircraft and helicopter vortices.

The Final Proceedings for IUTAM Symposium on Dynamics of Slender Vortices, 31 August-3 September 1997. Topics include: (1) asymptotic theories, (2) numerical methods, (3) vortices in shear layers, (4) interaction of vortices, (5) vortex breakdown, (6) vortex sound, and (7) aircraft and helicopter vortices.

Elementary vortices – those tubular swirling vortical structures with concentrated vorticity commonly observed in various kinds of turbulent flows – play key roles in turbulence dynamics (e.g. enhancement of mixing, diffusion and resistance) and characterize turbulence statistics (e.g. intermittency). Because of their dynamical importance, manipulation of elementary vortices is expected to be effective and useful in turbulence control as well as in construction of turbulence modeling. The most advanced research works on elementary vortices and related problems were presented and discussed at the IUTAM Symposium in Kyoto, Japan, 26-28 October 2004. This book contains 40 contributions presented there, the subjects of which cover vortex dynamics, coherent structures, chaotic advection and mixing, statistical properties of turbulence, rotating and stratified turbulence, instability and transition, dynamics of thin vortices, finite-time singularity, and superfluid turbulence. The book should be useful for readers of graduate and advanced levels in the field of fluid turbulence.

Proceedings of the IUTAM Symposium held in Liverpool, UK, 8-11 July 2002

Nonlinearity and stochastic structural dynamics is of common interest to engineers and applied scientists belonging to many disciplines. Recent research in this area has been concentrated on the response and stability of nonlinear mechanical and structural systems subjected to random escitation. Simultaneously the focus of research has also been directed towards understanding intrinsic nonlinear phenomena like bifurcation and chaos in deterministic systems. These problems demand a high degree of sophistication in the analytical and numerical approaches. At the same time they arise from considerations of nonlinear system response to turbulence, earthquacke, wind, wave and guidancy excitations. The topic thus attracts votaries of both analytical rigour and practical applications. This books gives important and latest developments in the field presenting in a coherent fashion the research findings of leading international groups working in the area of nonlinear random vibration and chaos.

The goals ofthe Symposium were to highlight advances in modelling ofatmosphere and ocean dynamics, to provide a forum where atmosphere and ocean scientists could present their latest research results and learn ofprogress and promising ideas in these allied disciplines; to facilitate interaction between theory and applications in atmosphere/ocean dynamics. These goals were seen to be especially important in view ofcurrent efforts to model climate requiring models which include interaction between atmosphere, ocean and land influences. Participants were delighted with the diversity ofthe scientific programme; the opportunity to meet fellow scientists from the other discipline (either atmosphere or ocean) with whom they do not normally interact through their own discipline; the opportunity to meet scientists from many countries other than their own; the opportunity to hear significant presentations (50 minutes) from the keynote speakers on a range ofrelevant topics. Certainly the goal ofcreating a forum for exchange between atmosphere and ocean scientists who need to input to create realistic models for climate prediction was achieved by the Symposium and this goal will hopefully be further advanced by the publication ofthese Proceedings.

This volume is a record of the proceedings of the Symposium on Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) held at the University of Southampton in July 1997 which was held under the auspices of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanic~. Theoretical SEA is form of modelling the vibrational and acoustical behaviour of complex mechanical systems which has undergone a long period of gestation before recent maturation into a widely used engineering design and analysis tool which is supported by a rapidly growing supply of commercial software. SEA also provides a framework for associated experimental measurement procedures, data analysis and interpretation. Under the guidance of the members of a distinguished International Scientific Committee, participants were individually invited from the broad spectrum of 'SEAfarers', including academics, consultants, industrial engineers, software developers and research students. The Symposium aimed to reflect the balance of world-wide activity in SEA, although some eminent members of the SEA community were, sadly, unable to attend. In particular, Professor Richard Lyon and Dr Gideon Maidanik, two of the principal originators of SEA, were sorely missed. This publication contains copies of all the papers presented to the Symposium together with a summary of the associated discussions which contains valuable comments upon the contents of the formal papers together with the views of participants on some fundamental issues which remain to be resolved.