Chuang Liu

Impact Mechanics of Ceramic Armor: Dwell and Interface Defeat provides a thorough overview of the impact dynamics of projectiles and targets, crack propagation, and damage evolution of ceramic armor during interface defeat and penetration. The book provides experimental techniques and results of ceramic armor subjected to projectile damage, covers the mechanics of damage of ceramic armor under impact load, and analyzes the failure processes alongside corresponding theoretical models. Constitutive models and material parameters between projectile and target are explained, techniques for optimum ceramic armor design are outlined, and applications of interface defeat in the field of light armor are provided.

Spacecraft Attitude Control: A Linear Matrix Inequality Approach solves problems for spacecraft attitude control systems using convex optimization and, specifi cally, through a linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach. High-precision pointing and improved robustness in the face of external disturbances and other uncertainties are requirements for the current generation of spacecraft. This book presents an LMI approach to spacecraft attitude control and shows that all uncertainties in the maneuvering process can be solved numerically. It explains how a model-like state space can be developed through a mathematical presentation of attitude control systems, allowing the controller in question to be applied universally. The authors describe a wide variety of novel and robust controllers, applicable both to spacecraft attitude control and easily extendable to second-order systems. Spacecraft Attitude Control provides its readers with an accessible introduction to spacecraft attitude control and robust systems, giving an extensive survey of current research and helping researchers improve robust control performance.

Spacecraft Electromagnetic Docking and Separation in Elliptical Orbits solves problems for spacecraft electromagnetic docking and separation control system using different control methods: instead of the widely used proportional-integral-derivative controller or PID control. The book focuses on presenting a variety of control strategies tailored for spacecraft electromagnetic docking and separation, accompanied by stability proofs that integrate Lyapunov stability theory with sliding mode theory, LMIs-based theorems, model predictive control theories, reinforcement study theories and other frameworks, so the reader can understand how to handle different kinds of disturbances and perturbations in actual orbiting spacecraft. The book also provides a review of magnetic field, magnetic field force model (both the near-field model and the far-field model), useful lemmas and dynamic modelling methods of spacecraft relative motion, which can serve as first stage analysis for further research and are especially important in the initial design phase of a spacecraft electromagnetic docking and separation control system

This book addresses several of the foundational problems in thermophysics, i. e. thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. It is an interdisciplinary work in that it examines the philosophical underpinning of scientific models and theories; it also refines the analysis of the problems at hand and delineates the place occupied by various scientific models in a generalized philosophical landscape. Hence, our philosophical - or theoretical - inquiry focuses sharply on the concept of models; and our empirical - or laboratory - evidence is sought in the model-building activities of scientists who have tried to confront the epistemological problems arising in the thermophysical sciences. Primarily for researchers and students in physics, philosophy of science, and mathematics, our book aims at informing the readers - with all the in­ dispensable technical details made readily available - about the nature of the foundational problems, how these problems are approached with the help of various mathematical models, and what the philosophical implications of such models and approaches involve. Some familiarity with elementary ther­ mophysics and/or with introductory-level philosophy of science may help, but neither is a prerequisite. The logical and mathematical background re­ quired for the book are introduced in the Appendices. Upon using the Subject Index, the readers may easily locate the concepts and theorems needed for understanding various parts of the book. The Citation Index lists the authors of the contributions we discuss in detail.

This book addresses several of the foundational problems in thermophysics, i. e. thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. It is an interdisciplinary work in that it examines the philosophical underpinning of scientific models and theories; it also refines the analysis of the problems at hand and delineates the place occupied by various scientific models in a generalized philosophical landscape. Hence, our philosophical - or theoretical - inquiry focuses sharply on the concept of models; and our empirical - or laboratory - evidence is sought in the model-building activities of scientists who have tried to confront the epistemological problems arising in the thermophysical sciences. Primarily for researchers and students in physics, philosophy of science, and mathematics, our book aims at informing the readers - with all the in­ dispensable technical details made readily available - about the nature of the foundational problems, how these problems are approached with the help of various mathematical models, and what the philosophical implications of such models and approaches involve. Some familiarity with elementary ther­ mophysics and/or with introductory-level philosophy of science may help, but neither is a prerequisite. The logical and mathematical background re­ quired for the book are introduced in the Appendices. Upon using the Subject Index, the readers may easily locate the concepts and theorems needed for understanding various parts of the book. The Citation Index lists the authors of the contributions we discuss in detail.