This book explores two important aspects of the optimal control of oscillatory systems: the initiation of optimal oscillatory regimes and control possibilities for random disturbances. The main content of the book is based upon assertions of the optimal control theory and the disturbance theory. All theoretical propositions are illustrated by examples with exact mechanical context. An appendix covers the necessary mathematical prerequisites.

"Nonlinear Oscillations in Mechanical Engineering" explores the effects of nonlinearities encountered in applications in that field. Since the nonlinearities are caused, first of all, by contacts between different mechanical parts, the main part of this book is devoted to oscillations in mechanical systems with discontinuities caused by dry friction and collisions. Another important source of nonlinearity which is covered is that caused by rotating unbalanced parts common in various machines as well as variable inertias occurring in all kinds of crank mechanisms. This book is written for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students, but it may be also helpful and interesting for both theoreticians and practitioners working in the area of mechanical engineering at universities, in research labs or institutes and especially in the R and D departments within industrial firms.

The numerous applications of optimal control theory have given an incentive to the development of approximate techniques aimed at the construction of control laws and the optimization of dynamical systems. These constructive approaches rely on small parameter methods (averaging, regular and singular perturbations), which are well-known and have been proven to be efficient in nonlinear mechanics and optimal control theory (maximum principle, variational calculus and dynamic programming). An essential feature of the procedures for solving optimal control problems consists in the necessity for dealing with two-point boundary-value problems for nonlinear and, as a rule, nonsmooth multi-dimensional sets of differential equations. This circumstance complicates direct applications of the above-mentioned perturbation methods which have been developed mostly for investigating initial-value (Cauchy) problems. There is now a need for a systematic presentation of constructive analytical per turbation methods relevant to optimal control problems for nonlinear systems. The purpose of this book is to meet this need in the English language scientific literature and to present consistently small parameter techniques relating to the constructive investigation of some classes of optimal control problems which often arise in prac tice. This book is based on a revised and modified version of the monograph: L. D. Akulenko "Asymptotic methods in optimal control". Moscow: Nauka, 366 p. (in Russian).

This book contains two fundamental papers. The first is, in essence, a short monograph devoted to the theory of periodic motions in singularly perturbed systems. The second deals with structural properties of the solutions of a system having infinitely many switchings on a finite time interval to Hamiltonian systems with discontinuous right-hand side.

The book is about the possibilities of involvement of the well-known Green’s function method in exact or approximate controllability analysis for dynamic systems. Due to existing extensions of the Green’s function notion to nonlinear systems, the approach developed here is valid for systems with both linear and nonlinear dynamics. The book offers a number of particular examples, covering specific issues that make the controllability analysis sophisticated, such as coordinate dependent characteristics, point sources, unbounded domains, higher dimensions, and specific nonlinearities. It also offers extensive numerical analysis, which reveals both advantages and drawbacks of the approach. As such, the book will be of interest to researchers interested in the theory and practice of control, as well as PhD and Master’s students.

Covering all aspects of this important topic, this work presents a review of the main control issues in wind power generation, offering a unified picture of the issues surrounding its optimal control. Discussion is focused on a global dynamic optimization approach to wind power systems using a set of optimization criteria which comply with a comprehensive group of requirements including: energy conversion efficiency; mechanical reliability; and quality of the energy provided.