How long have composites been around? Where does the classical laminate theory come from? Who made the first modern fiber composite? This work in the history of materials science is the first examination of the strategies employed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in researching and developing hybrid materials. The author analyzes numerous sources which record a regular back and forth between applied design and exploratory materials engineering in building such “modular materials”. The motivations, ideas, and concepts of engineers, scientists, and other players in industry and research are also examined within the context of their day. This book presents the development and importance of composite materials within historical context. The content includes Early composite materials The development of composite materials in the industrial nineteenth century Composites in twentieth-century polymer chemistry The development of hybrid material systems in the second half of the twentieth century Summary. The author: Dr. Andreas T. Haka is an engineer and historian of science and technology. He is currently a lecturer in the Section for the History of Science and Technology at the University of Stuttgart. His main focus is on the history and practice of materials research, raw materials, materials science and technological constructive design, scientific networks, and research technologies.

This reference offers a systematic approach to the dynamics and stability of vehicles such as cars, bicycles, trailers, motorcycles, and trains and shows how mathematical models of varying degrees of complexity can be used to suggest design guidelines for assurance of vehicle stability. Based on more than 30 years of teaching experience from a reno

Handbook of Mechanical Stability in Engineering (In 3 Volumes) is a systematic presentation of mathematical statements and methods of solution for problems of structural stability. It also presents a connection between the solutions of the problems and the actual design practice.This comprehensive multi-volume set with applications in Applied Mechanics, Structural, Civil and Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics is useful for research engineers and developers of CAD/CAE software who investigate the stability of equilibrium of mechanical systems; practical engineers who use the software tools in their daily work and are interested in knowing more about the theoretical foundations of the strength analysis; and for advanced students and faculty of university departments where strength-related subjects of civil and mechanical engineering are taught.

An integration of modern work in structural stability theory, this volume focuses on the Koiter postbuckling analyses, with mathematical notions of stability of motion. In relation to discrete and continuous systems, it bases the minimum energy principles for static stability upon the dynamic concepts of stability of motion. It further develops the asymptotic buckling and postbuckling analyses from potential energy considerations, with applications to columns, plates, and arches.

This volume draws on the experience and extensive research of an international authorship to bring together details on slope stability, causes of landslides, landslide prevention, new techniques for assessing and predicting stability, new methods for stabilising slopes and the special considerations for coastal situations.

The subject discussed in this book is the stability of thin-walled elastic systems under static loads. The presentation of these problems is based on modern approaches to elastic-stability theory. Special attention is paid to the formulation of elastic-stability criteria, to the statement of column, plate and shell stability problems, to the derivation of basic relationships, and to a discussion of the boundaries of the application of analytic relationships. The author has tried to avoid arcane, nonstandard problems and elaborate and unexpected solutions, which bring real pleasure to connoisseurs, but confuse students and cause bewilderment to some practical engineers. The author has an apprehension that problems which, though interesting, are limited in application can divert the reader's attention from the more prosaic but no less sophisticated general problems of stability theory.

This book is a self-contained presentation of the background and progress of the study of time-delay systems, a subject with broad applications to a number of areas.