A Panoramic Overview of the Principles and Equations of Motion of Advanced Engineering Dynamics

Abstract

This is a qualitative and concise review of the fundamental principles and equations of Lagrangean, or Analytical, Mechanics (AM) for discrete (or discretizable) and constrained systems; primarily for theoretically-oriented engineers, but also for physicists and mathematicians. In spite of the age and obvious importance of the subject, no other comparable presentation of it seems to exist in the English language literature. Most contemporary treatments of advanced mechanics are either too formalistic and abstract, and as such are virtually inaccessible to engineers; or are of the multibody dynamics variety and hence, perhaps unavoidably, narrow in scope in their treatment of the fundamentals and general methods pertaining to AM. There are 109 references.