Imperfect Bifurcation in Structures and Materials: Engineering Use of Group-Theoretic Bifurcation Theory

of physical and engineering problems. Systematic methods—based on

asymptotic, probabilistic, and group-theoretic standpoints—are used to

examine experimental and computational data from numerous examples (e.g.,

soil, sand, kaolin, concrete, domes, etc.).

Engineers may find this book, with its minimized mathematical formalism,

to be a useful introduction to modern bifurcation theory. For

mathematicians, static bifurcation theory for finite dimensional systems,

as well as its implications for practical problems, is illuminated by the

numerous examples.