Annotation Consisting primarily of contributions written by engineers from Europe, Asia, and the US, this volume provides a general methodology for describing, solving, and analyzing discontinuous systems. The focus is on mechanical engineering problems where clearances, piecewise stiffness, intermittent contact, variable friction, or other forms of discontinuity occur. Practical applications include vibration absorbers, percussive drilling of hard materials, and dynamics of metal cutting. Of likely interest to new and experienced researchers working in the field of applied mathematics and physics, mechanical and civil engineering, and manufacturing. Lacks a subject index. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Rapid developments in nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory have led to publication of many valuable monographs and books. However, most of these texts are devoted to the classical nonlinear dynamics systems, for example the Duffing or van der Pol oscillators, and either neglect or refer only briefly to systems with motion-dependent discontinuities. In engineering practice a good part of problems is discontinuous in nature, due to either deliberate reasons such as the introduction of working clearance, and/or the finite accuracy of the manufacturing processes.The main objective of this volume is to provide a general methodology for describing, solving and analysing discontinuous systems. It is compiled from the dedicated contributions written by experts in the field of applied nonlinear dynamics and chaos.The main focus is on mechanical engineering problems where clearances, piecewise stiffness, intermittent contact, variable friction or other forms of discontinuity occur. Practical applications include vibration absorbers, percussive drilling of hard materials and dynamics of metal cutting.

The book covers the fundamentals of the mechanics of multibody systems, i.e., systems of interconnected rigid bodies. A geometric view is emphasized in which the techniques and algorithms are motivated by the picture of the rigid body system as a point in the multidimensional space of all possible configurations. The reader is introduced to computer algebra methods in the form of a system, called Sophia, which is implemented in the Maple symbolic manipulation system. The first chapter provides a motivational introduction to the basic principles and an introduction to Maple. Kinematics based on the idea of tangent vectors to the configuration manifold sets the stage for dynamical analysis. The latter ranges from the Lagrange and Gibbs-Appell to Kane's equations. Coverage includes nonholonomic systems and redundant variable methods. The computer algebra methods included enable the treatment of nontrivial mechanical systems and the development of efficient numerical codes for simulation.

This book presents the theoretical frame for studying lumped nonsmooth dynamical systems: the mathematical methods are recalled, and adapted numerical methods are introduced (differential inclusions, maximal monotone operators, Filippov theory, Aizerman theory, etc.). Tools available for the analysis of classical smooth nonlinear dynamics (stability analysis, the Melnikov method, bifurcation scenarios, numerical integrators, solvers, etc.) are extended to the nonsmooth frame. Many models and applications arising from mechanical engineering, electrical circuits, material behavior and civil engineering are investigated to illustrate theoretical and computational developments.

The main goal of this book is to prove analytically and validate experimentally that synchronization in multi-composed mechanical systems can be achieved in the case of partial knowledge of the state vector of the systems, i.e. when only positions are measured. For this purpose, synchronization schemes based on interconnections between the systems, feedback controllers and observers are proposed. Because mechanical systems include a large variety of systems, and since it is impossible to address all of them, the book focuses on robot manipulators. Nonetheless the ideas developed here can be extended to other mechanical systems, such as mobile robots, motors and generators.

This updated and enriched new edition maintains its complementarity principle in which the subgroup of rotations, harmonic oscillators, and the conventional complex analysis generate linear and weakly nonlinear approaches, whereas translations and reflections, impact oscillators, and hyperbolic Clifford’s algebras, give rise to the essentially nonlinear “quasi-impact” methodology based on the idea of non-smooth temporal substitutions. In the years since “Nonlinear Dynamics: Between Linear and Impact Limits,” the previous edition of this book, was published, due to a widening area of applications, a deeper insight into the matter has emerged leading to the rudimentary algebraic view on the very existence of the complementary smooth and non-smooth base systems as those associated with two different signs of the algebraic equation j2 =± 1. This edition further includes an overview of applications found in the literature after the publication of first edition, and new physical examples illustrating both theoretical statements and constructive analytical tools.

This monograph combines the knowledge of both the field of nonlinear dynamics and non-smooth mechanics, presenting a framework for a class of non-smooth mechanical systems using techniques from both fields. The book reviews recent developments, and opens the field to the nonlinear dynamics community. This book addresses researchers and graduate students in engineering and mathematics interested in the modelling, simulation and dynamics of non-smooth systems and nonlinear dynamics.