Discontinuous dynamical systems on time-varying domains (Q608031)

In the last century the most comprehensive theoretical treatment of differential equations with discontinuous right hand sides has been possibly the well-known book of [\textit{A. F. Filippov}, Differential equations with discontinuous right-hand sides. Mathematics and Its Applications: Soviet Series, 18. Dordrecht etc.: Kluwer Academic Publishers (1988; Zbl 0664.34001)] that has been the reference book on the existence and uniqueness of solutions for this type of problems. On the other hand since in the last 30 years the theory of dynamical systems has been one of the most lively fields of mathematics the efforts to extend these developments to discontinuous dynamical systems are not surprising. In the present monograph Prof. Albert C. J. Luo, who is a well-known researcher in the field, has accomplished this task by collecting some relevant investigations of his group on discontinuous dynamical systems into a volume that will be an up-to-date reference book on the subject. The book is divided into seven chapters. In the first one a brief motivation for the study of discontinuous dynamical systems on time varying domains is given by considering problems of mechanical engineering like gear transmission systems in which the model must include both impact and friction that lead to this kind of dynamical systems. Moreover this chapter also includes a review of some relevant literature on the subject that makes clear the evolution of the research on these problems in the last thirty years. For the main contents of this book, Chapters 2 to 7, I will take the following summary given by the author in the book layout: In Chapter 2, a basic theory of switchability of a flow to the boundary in discontinuous dynamical systems is presented. The \(G\)-functions for discontinuous systems are introduced to investigate the singularity in discontinuous dynamical systems. Based on the \(G\)-functions, the full and half sink and source, non-passable flows to the separation boundary in systems are presented, and the switchability of a flow from a domain to the adjacent one is addressed. Finally, the switching bifurcations between passable and non passable flows is presented. In Chapter 3, the switchability of a flow from one domain into another in discontinuous dynamical systems is presented through a periodically forced, discontinuous dynamical system with a time invariant boundary. The normal vector field for flow switching on the separation boundary is introduced and the passability condition of a flow to the separation boundary will be given through such normal vector fields. The sliding and grazing conditions to the separation boundary are presented as well. This investigation may help one better understand the sliding mode control. In Chapter 4, an oscillator moving on the periodically traveling belt with dry friction is investigated as a dynamical system with a time varying boundary. The conditions on stick and non-stick motions in such an frictional oscillator are developed, and the periodic motions in the oscillator will be investigated as well. The grazing and stick (or sliding) bifurcations are investigated. The significance of this investigation is to show how to control motions in such friction-induced oscillators in industry. In Chapter 5, impact and stick motions of two oscillators at the time-varying boundary and domains are presented under an impact law. The dynamics mechanism of the impacting chatter with stick at the moving boundary is investigated from the local singularity theory of discontinuous dynamical systems. The analytical conditions for the onset and vanishing of stick motions are obtained, and the condition for maintaining stick motion is achieved as well. This chapter will show how two dynamical systems interact. In Chapter 6, two dynamical systems connected with friction will be presented, and the motion switchability on the moving discontinuous boundary will be discussed through the theory of discontinuous dynamical systems. The onset and vanishing of motions will be discussed through the bifurcation and grazing analysis. It will be observed that two different systems can stick together forever. In Chapter 7, a theory for two dynamical systems with a general interaction is presented. Such an interaction occurs at a time-varying boundary. From the discontinuous theory in Chapter 2, a general methodology for two systems interactions is presented in order to determine the complex motion of two systems which is caused by the interaction between two systems. The book is well organized and well written and at the end of each chapter there is a list of references, most of them recent publications of the author and coworkers, on the subject of the chapter. In addition the book focusses more on discussing the fundamental aspects of the problems more than on giving a complete collection of mathematical proofs. Indeed the proofs of some theorems have been omitted by sending the interested reader to suitable references. Two minor critical remarks: At some points the notation is too complicated, for example, in the basic chapter 2 the notation used in the definitions of passable and non-passable flows as well as in that of tangential flows. Fortunately the figures can help the reader to get an idea of the concept. In my opinion this is a fact that can make the book hardly readable for an intermediate level researcher. Also some mathematical definitions used in the book have not been stated very precisely. To cite just an example, in chapter 2 the assumptions on the dependence on the parameters of the vector field are not included in the hypothesis. In spite of this the present volume is an up-to-date important monograph in the field of discontinuous dynamical systems that is indispensable to anyone pursuing this approach and it is highly recommended for the researchers in the area because it provides a unified treatment of the research of Prof. Luo and his coworkers.