Tubular Structures XV contains the latest scientific and engineering developments in the field of tubular structures, as presented at the 15th International Symposium on Tubular Structures (ISTS15, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 27-29 May 2015). The International Symposium on Tubular Structures (ISTS) has a long-standing reputation for being the principal

Uncertainties play a dominant role in the design and optimization of structures and infrastructures. In optimum design of structural systems due to variations of the material, manufacturing variations, variations of the external loads and modelling uncertainty, the parameters of a structure, a structural system and its environment are not given, fixed coefficients, but random variables with a certain probability distribution. The increasing necessity to solve complex problems in Structural Optimization, Structural Reliability and Probabilistic Mechanics, requires the development of new ideas, innovative methods and numerical tools for providing accurate numerical solutions in affordable computing times. This book presents the latest findings on structural optimization considering uncertainties. It contains selected contributions dealing with the use of probabilistic methods for the optimal design of different types of structures and various considerations of uncertainties. The first part is focused on reliability-based design optimization and the second part on robust design optimization. Comprising twenty-one, self-contained chapters by prominent authors in the field, it forms a complete collection of state-of-the-art theoretical advances and applications in the fields of structural optimization, structural reliability, and probabilistic computational mechanics. It is recommended to researchers, engineers, and students in civil, mechanical, naval and aerospace engineering and to professionals working on complicated costs-effective design problems.

This book addresses the need for energy-efficient amplifiers, providing gain enhancement strategies, suitable to run in parallel with lower supply voltages, by introducing a new family of single-stage cascode-free amplifiers, with proper design, optimization, fabrication and experimental evaluation. The authors describe several topologies, using the UMC 130 nm CMOS technology node with standard-VT devices, for proof-of-concept, achieving results far beyond what is achievable with a classic single-stage folded-cascode amplifier. Readers will learn about a new family of circuits with a broad range of applications, together with the familiarization with a state-of-the-art electronic design automation methodology used to explore the design space of the proposed circuit family.