Applied Mechanics Dynamics

Abstract

The present edition incorporates a number of revisions and additions which should improve its usefulness as a textbook without changing the basic organization or the general philosophy of presentation of the subject matter. The experience of the past few years at the California Institute of Technology and other schools indicates that the book has been useful to engineering students who wish to prepare for more advanced studies and applications of dynamics, and hence a new edition was felt to be justified. Among the additions and modifications the following may be mentioned to indicate the scope of the revision. The section on dimensional analysis has been rewritten and a brief treatment of the theory of models has been added. The section on impact problems has been revised, and a more extensive treatment of variable mass systems has been included. A more general discussion of the moment of momentum equations for systems of particles has been added, and the general momentum and energy equations for rigid bodies have been more completely developed. The discussion of rotation about a fixed point and gyroscopic motion has been expanded and somewhat more complex systems have been considered, including problems on the stability of rolling motion. The problem of longitudinal waves in an elastic bar is discussed, and a comparison is made between wave propagation techniques and vibration methods for such problems. The discussion of generalized coordinates and Lagrange's equations has been revised, and a general treatment of the problem of small oscillations of a conservative system has been added. The sections on the Calculus of Variations and Hamilton's Principle have been rewritten with some expansion. Over one hundred new problems have been added to increase the total number to some four hundred. All of the new problems have been thoroughly tested in classroom use. The number of illustrative examples has been increased and many of the original examples have been modified. As in the first edition, the main emphasis of the book is on particle and rigid-body dynamics, although some other aspects of the subject have been included to show how the methods of classical mechanics are applied to the various branches of engineering science. Some of these topics, such as fluid dynamics and the kinetics of gases, have been treated in a very brief fashion. Although the student will make a more complete analysis of these subjects in specialized courses, it is believed that the brief discussions will help him to acquire a broader view of the applied sciences. In all such instances care has been taken to use methods that can be extended later for more complete treatments, and the student has been informed of the limitations of the analyses. As a textbook the main emphasis has been on method and on development of fundamental principles. The problems form an essential part of the presentation, and important conclusions are sometimes given in problems and illustrative examples. The student should examine such problems and note the results, even if the details of the proofs are not carried through.

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