Multibody System Dynamics

Edited by:
  • Werner Schiehlen
Kluwer Academic Publishers. 4/yr $241.50 (institutional), $85 (personal)

Contemporary mechanics traces its origins to Newton's laws of motion. Traditionally divided into fluid and solid mechanics, the theoretical side in the early part of this century saw ideas such as boundary layer theory give analytic tractability to the otherwise impenetrable continuum equations in these areas. Enormous strides in computer power mean that problems such as the large-scale computation of global weather patterns can now be addressed. More recently, the qualitative approach crucial to understanding nonlinear dynamics (including ‘chaos theory’) has been embraced by mechanics to the extent that the subject may be on the verge of a golden age, in which fields previously thought impenetrable can be explored.

The international body in the subject is the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM). Its president, Werner Schiehlen, is the editor of Multibody System Dynamics, which is devoted to one of the most important new fields. Examples of such systems include nearly every man-made object of engineering importance, such as cars, lorries, railway vehicles and robots.

Looking through the articles in this journal, it is clear that the equations of motion can be written down, that computers can produce solutions and that, given enough parameters, sufficient agreement can be found with observation. But something is missing. There seems to be no visceral, intuitive understanding of the behaviour of such systems — with their enormous numbers of degrees of freedom — especially when subject to constraints. Of course this is a highly non-trivial problem, but without a ‘feel’ for a problem, progress is liable to be restricted. The success and even survival of the journal may well be directly related to this issue.

Nevertheless, Schiehlen is to be congratulated for highlighting this area, and Kluwer applauded for its faith in him. Readers of Nature interested in this field should start with Schiehlen's comprehensive review in Multibody System Dynamics 1, 149-188 (1997), and then attend IUTAM's congress in Chicago in August 2000.