Variational and Extremum Principles in Macroscopic Systems

Erscheinungsjahr 2005
ISBN: 978-0-08-044488-8
Verlag: Elsevier Science & Technology

Buch, Englisch, 810 Seiten, Format (B × H): 165 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 1580 g

Recent years have seen a growing trend to derive models of macroscopic phenomena encountered in the fields of engineering, physics, chemistry, ecology, self-organisation theory and econophysics from various variational or extremum principles. Through the link between the integral extremum of a functional and the local extremum of a function (explicit, for example, in the Pontryagin's maximum principle variational and extremum principles are mutually related. Thus it makes sense to consider them within a common context.

The main goal of Variational and Extremum Principles in Macroscopic Systems is to collect various mathematical formulations and examples of physical reasoning that involve both basic theoretical aspects and applications of variational and extremum approaches to systems of the macroscopic world.

The first part of the book is focused on the theory, whereas the second focuses on applications. The unifying variational approach is used to derive the balance or conservation equations, phenomenological equations linking fluxes and forces, equations of change for processes with coupled transfer of energy and substance, and optimal conditions for energy management.

Zielgruppe

Readership is extremely broad and includes applied mathematicians, mathematical physicists, applied physicists, chemists, geologists, ecologists, mechanical engineers, chemical engineers, economists and system theorists, undergraduates, graduates and instructors, both from academia and industry.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Sieniutycz, Stanislaw

Farkas, Henrik

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftssektoren & Branchen Primärer Sektor Agrarökonomie, Ernährungswirtschaft
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines
• Naturwissenschaften Agrarwissenschaften Agrarwissenschaften Landwirtschaftliche Bewässerung

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Part I: Theory
Variational Principles in Macroscopic Systems

Part II: Applications
Statistical Physics and Thermodynamics, Hydrodynamics and Continuum Mechanics, Transport Phenomena and Energy Conversion, Ecology, Selforganization and Econophysics

Glossary of principal symbols

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Sieniutycz, Stanislaw
Stanislaw Sieniutycz is a former member of the Committee of Engineering at the Polish Academy of Sciences and also a professor of chemical engineering at the Warsaw University of Technology, Poland. His research focuses on problems of chemical, environmental, ecological, and biomechanical engineering with emphasis on analysis, control, and optimization of these systems. He is a former member of the Editorial Board of Open System and Information Dynamics and an honorary editor of the Journal of Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics. He has served as an associate editor of Advances in Thermodynamics Series and Energy & Conversion Management. He has published 12 books, 250 articles, and 152 conference papers. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Budapest, University of Bern, University of San Diego, University of Delaware, and University of Chicago.