This book provides modern investigation into the bifurcation phenomena of physical and structural problems. Systematic methods--based on asymptotic, stochastic, and group-theoretic standpoints--are used to examine experimental and computational data from numerous examples (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.

Kiyohiro Ikeda is a Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering at Tohoku University. Kazuo Murota is a Professor in the Department of Mathematical Informatics, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology at University of Tokyo.

Most physical systems lose or gain stability through bifurcation behavior. This book explains a series of experimentally found bifurcation phenomena by means of the methods of static bifurcation theory.

Introduction to Bifurcation Behavior * Critical Point and Local Behavior * Imperfection Sensitivity Laws * Critical Initial Imperfections (I) * Stochasticity of Initial Imperfections (I) * Experimentally-observed Bifurcation Diagrams * Group-theoretic Bifurcation Theory * Bifurcation Behavior of Dn-equivariant Systems * Critical Initial Imperfections (II) * Stochasticity of Initial Imperfections (II) * Description of Bifurcation Behaviors * Bifurcation of Cylindrical Sand Specimens * Echelon-mode Formation * Bifurcation of Steel Specimens * Miscellaneous Aspects of Bifurcation Phenomena * References * Index