This book is devoted to the study of topical issues of the simultaneous interaction of various types of stress concentrators with massive homogeneous and composite deformable bodies. A wide class of new contact and mixed problems is considered, and their closed or effective solutions are constructed. The features of the dynamic mutual influence of various stress concentrators in some problems of forced vibrations of composite massive bodies are also studied.

Failures of many mechanical components in service result from fatigue. The cracks which grow may either originate from some pre-existing macroscopic defect, or, if the component is of high integrity but highly stressed, a region of localized stress concentration. In turn, such concentrators may be caused by some minute defect, such as a tiny inclusion, or inadvertent machining damage. Another source of surface damage which may exist between notionally 'bonded' components is associated with minute relative motion along the interface, brought about usually be cyclic tangential loading. Such fretting damage is quite insidious, and may lead to many kinds of problems such as wear, but it is its influence on the promotion of embryo cracks with which we are concerned here. When the presence of fretting is associated with decreased fatigue performance the effect is known as fretting fatigue. Fretting fatigue is a subject drawing equally on materials science and applied mechanics, but it is the intention in this book to concentrate attention entirely on the latter aspects, in a search for the quantification of the influence of fretting on both crack nucleation and propagation. There have been very few previous texts in this area, and the present volume seeks to cover five principal areas; (a) The modelling of contact problems including partial slip under tangentialloading, which produces the surface damage. (b) The modelling of short cracks by rigorous methods which deal effectively with steep stress gradients, kinking and closure. (c) The experimental simulation of fretting fatigue.

The International Conference on Mechanical Design and Production has over the years established itself as an excellent forum for the exchange of ideas in these established fields. The first of these conferences was held in 1979. The seventh, and most recent, conference in the series was held in Cairo during February 15-17, 2000. International engineers and scientists gathered to exchange experiences and highlight the state-of-the-art research in the fields of mechanical design and production. In addition a heavy emphasis was placed on the issue of technology transfer. Over 100 papers were accepted for presentation at the conference. Current Advances in Mechanical Design & Production VII does not, however, attempt to publish the complete work presented but instead offers a sample that represents the quality and breadth of both the work and the conference. Ten invited papers and 54 ordinary papers have been selected for inclusion in these proceedings. They cover a range of basic and applied topics that can be classified into six main categories: System Dynamics, Solid Mechanics, Material Science, Manufacturing Processes, Design and Tribology, and Industrial Engineering and its Applications.