Variational Methods in Shape Optimization Problems

This volume consists of papers presented at the Variational Analysis and Aerospace Engineering Workshop II held in Erice, Italy in September 2010 at the International School of Mathematics "Guido Stampacchia". The workshop provided a platform for aerospace engineers and mathematicians (from universities, research centers and industry) to discuss the advanced problems requiring an extensive application of mathematics. The presentations were dedicated to the most advanced subjects in engineering and, in particular to computational fluid dynamics methods, introduction of new materials, optimization in aerodynamics, structural optimization, space missions, flight mechanics, control theory and optimization, variational methods and applications, and so on.

by Pekka Neittaanmäki (Editor), Sergey Repin (Editor), Tero Tuovinen (Editor)
Contains the latest results in the field
Focuses on a well-defined topic to ensure balanced treatment of subjects
Festschrift for Professor N. Banichuk

The 93 revised full papers presented together with 5 plenary and invited papers were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions for inclusion in the book. The papers are organized in topical sections on multilevel and multiscale preconditioning methods multilevel and multiscale methods for industrial applications, environmental modeling, control and uncertain systems, application of metaheuristics to large scale problems, monte carlo: methods, applications, distributed computing, grid and scientific and engineering applications, reliable numerical methods for differential equations, novel applications of optimization ideas to the numerical Solution of PDEs, and contributed talks.

The 170 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 557 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on learning and information processing, data mining, retrieval and management, bioinformatics and bio-inspired models, agents and hybrid systems, financial engineering, as well as a special session on nature-inspired date technologies.

This extended and revised second edition is intended for engineering students and researchers working with finite element methods in structural and mechanical analysis. Discussing numerical structural analysis from first mechanical and mathematical principles, it establishes the central role of influence functions (Green's functions) in linear computational mechanics. The main features of the book are mentioned below.