This book is aimed primarily towards physicists and mechanical engineers specializing in modeling, analysis, and control of discontinuous systems with friction and impacts. It fills a gap in the existing literature by offering an original contribution to the field of discontinuous mechanical systems based on mathematical and numerical modeling as well as the control of such systems. Each chapter provides the reader with both the theoretical background and results of verified and useful computations, including solutions of the problems of modeling and application of friction laws in numerical computations, results from finding and analyzing impact solutions, the analysis and control of dynamical systems with discontinuities, etc. The contents offer a smooth correspondence between science and engineering and will allow the reader to discover new ideas. Also emphasized is the unity of diverse branches of physics and mathematics towards understanding complex piecewise-smooth dynamical systems. Mathematical models presented will be important in numerical experiments, experimental measurements, and optimization problems found in applied mechanics.

Sample Chapter(s)