The Mechanics of Solids and Structures - Hierarchical Modeling and the Finite Element Solution

Book excerpt: In the recent decades, computational procedures have been applied to an increasing extent in engineering and the physical sciences. Mostly, two separate fields have been considered, namely, the analysis of solids and structures and the analysis of fluid flows. These continuous advances in analyses are of much interest to physicists, mathematicians and in particular, engineers. Also, computational fluid and solid mechanics are no longer treated as entirely separate fields of applications, but instead, coupled fluid and solid analysis is being pursued. The objective of the Book Series is to publish monographs, textbooks, and proceedings of conferences of archival value, on any subject of computational fluid dynamics, computational solid and structural mechanics, and computational multi-physics dynamics. The publications are written by and for physicists, mathematicians and engineers and are to emphasize the modeling, analysis and solution of problems in engineering.