Non-linear stochastic systems are at the center of many engineering disciplines and progress in theoretical research had led to a better understanding of non-linear phenomena. This book provides information on new fundamental results and their applications which are beginning to appear across the entire spectrum of mechanics. The outstanding points of these proceedings are Coherent compendium of the current state of modelling and analysis of non-linear stochastic systems from engineering, applied mathematics and physics point of view. Subject areas include: Multiscale phenomena, stability and bifurcations, control and estimation, computational methods and modelling. For the Engineering and Physics communities, this book will provide first-hand information on recent mathematical developments. The applied mathematics community will benefit from the modelling and information on various possible applications.

Non-linear stochastic systems are at the center of many engineering disciplines and progress in theoretical research had led to a better understanding of non-linear phenomena. This book provides information on new fundamental results and their applications which are beginning to appear across the entire spectrum of mechanics. The outstanding points of these proceedings are Coherent compendium of the current state of modelling and analysis of non-linear stochastic systems from engineering, applied mathematics and physics point of view. Subject areas include: Multiscale phenomena, stability and bifurcations, control and estimation, computational methods and modelling. For the Engineering and Physics communities, this book will provide first-hand information on recent mathematical developments. The applied mathematics community will benefit from the modelling and information on various possible applications.

The IUTAM Symposium on Advances in Nonlinear Stochastic Mechanics, held in Trondheim July 3-7, 1995, was the eighth of a series of IUTAM sponsored symposia which focus on the application of stochastic methods in mechanics. The previous meetings took place in Coventry, UK (1972), Sout'hampton, UK (1976), FrankfurtjOder, Germany (1982), Stockholm, Sweden (1984), Innsbruckjlgls, Austria (1987), Turin, Italy (1991) and San Antonio, Texas (1993). The symposium provided an extraordinary opportunity for scholars to meet and discuss recent advances in stochastic mechanics. The participants represented a wide range of expertise, from pure theoreticians to people primarily oriented toward applications. A significant achievement of the symposium was the very extensive discussions taking place over the whole range from highly theoretical questions to practical engineering applications. Several presentations also clearly demonstrated the substantial progress that has been achieved in recent years in terms of developing and implement ing stochastic analysis techniques for mechanical engineering systems. This aspect was further underpinned by specially invited extended lectures on computational stochastic mechanics, engineering applications of stochastic mechanics, and nonlinear active control. The symposium also reflected the very active and high-quality research taking place in the field of stochastic stability. Ten presentations were given on this topic ofa total of47 papers. A main conclusion that can be drawn from the proceedings of this symposium is that stochastic mechanics as a subject has reached great depth and width in both methodology and applicability.

This symposium, held at Innsbruck/lgls on June 21-26, 1987, is the fifth in a series of IUTAM-Symposia on the application of stochastic methods in mechanics. The flrst two meetings in Warwick (1972) and Southhampton (1976) concentrated on the stability of stochastic dynamical systems and stochastic methods in dynamics, respectively. The third meeting in Frankfurt/Oder (1982) added aspects of reliability, while the fourth symposium in Stockholm (1984) dealt mainly with fatigue and fracture problems. The general theme of the present symposium is devoted to nonlinear stochastic dynamics of engineering systems which is believed of great importance for providing the tools for basic development and progress in various fields of mechanical-, structural- and aeronautical engineering, particularly in the areas of vehicle dynamics, multi-storey structural dynamics, systems identiflcation, offshore structural dynamics, nuclear structures under various stochastic loading conditions (i. e. wind-, earthquake-, parametric excitations, etc. ). The contributions collected in this volume cover a wide spectrum of topics ranging from more theoretical, analytical and numerical treatment to practical application in various flelds. The truly international character of the meeting is accomplished by 42 contributions and 86 participants from as many as 19 countries and hence, contributed to the original idea of IUTAM, which is to foster international cooperation. It should be recalled, that, for getting this cooperation started again after the First World War, Theodore von Kanmm and Tullio Levi-Civita called the world's flrst international (IUTAM) conference on hydro- and aerornechanics in 1922 in Innsbruck, Austria.

Engineering systems have played a crucial role in stimulating many of the modern developments in nonlinear and stochastic dynamics. After 20 years of rapid progress in these areas, this book provides an overview of the current state of nonlinear modeling and analysis for mechanical and structural systems. This volume is a coherent compendium written by leading experts from the United States, Canada, Western and Eastern Europe, and Australia. The 22 articles describe the background, recent developments, applications, and future directions in bifurcation theory, chaos, perturbation methods, stochastic stability, stochastic flows, random vibrations, reliability, disordered systems, earthquake engineering, and numerics. The book gives readers a sophisticated toolbox that will allow them to tackle modeling problems in mechanical systems that use stochastic and nonlinear dynamics ideas. An extensive bibliography and index ensure this volume will remain a reference standard for years to come.

This book contains some new developments in the area of Structural Dynamics. In general it reflects the recent efforts of several Austrian research groups during the years 1985 - 1990. The contents of this book cover both theoretical developments as well as practical applications and hence can be utilized by researchers as well as the practicing engineers. Quite naturally, realistic modeling of a number of load types such as wind and earthquake loading, etc. , requires taking into account statistical uncertainties. Hence these loads have to be characterized by stochastic processes. As a consequence, stochastic aspects must play a major role in modem structural dynamics. Since an extended modeling of the load processes should not be counterbalanced by simplifying the structural models, considerable efforts have been put into the development of procedures which allow the utilization of e. g. FE models and codes which are utilized presently in context with simplified, i. e. "deterministic" load models. Thus the processing of the additional information on loads as well as including statistical properties of the material allows to provide additional answers, i. e. quantification of the risk of structural failure. This volume concentrates on four major areas, i. e. on load modeling, structural response analysis, computational reliability procedures, and finally on practical application. Quite naturally only special fields and particular, i. e. selected types of problems can be covered. Specific reference is made, however, to cases where generalizations are possible.

This is a systematic presentation of several classes of analytical techniques in non-linear random vibration. The book also includes a concise treatment of Markovian and non-Markovian solutions of non-linear differential equations.