Inverse problems in engineering mechanics : International Symposium on Inverse Problems in Engineering Mechanics 1998 (ISIP '98), Nagano, Japan

Inverse problems can be found in many topics of engineering mechanics. There are many successful applications in the fields of inverse problems (non-destructive testing and characterization of material properties by ultrasonic or X-ray techniques, thermography, etc.). Generally speaking, the inverse problems are concerned with the determination of the input and the characteristics of a mechanical system from some of the output from the system. Mathematically, such problems are ill-posed and have to be overcome through development of new computational schemes, regularization techniques, objective functionals, and experimental procedures. Seventy-two papers were presented at the International Symposium on Inverse Problems in Mechanics (ISIP '98) held in March of 1998 in Nagano, where recent developments in the inverse problems in engineering mechanics and related topics were discussed. The main themes were: mathematical and computational aspects of the inverse problems, parameter or system identification, shape determination, sensitivity analysis, optimization, material property characterization, ultrasonic non-destructive testing, elastodynamic inverse problems, thermal inverse problems, and other engineering applications. Inverse problems can be found in many topics of engineering mechanics. There are many successful applications in the fields of inverse problems (non-destructive testing and characterization of material properties by ultrasonic or X-ray techniques, thermography, etc.). Generally speaking, the inverse problems are concerned with the determination of the input and the characteristics of a mechanical system from some of the output from the system. Mathematically, such problems are ill-posed and have to be overcome through development of new computational schemes, regularization techniques, objective functionals, and experimental procedures.

Seventy-two papers were presented at the International Symposium on Inverse Problems in Mechanics (ISIP '98) held in March of 1998 in Nagano, where recent developments in the inverse problems in engineering mechanics and related topics were discussed. The main themes were: mathematical and computational aspects of the inverse problems, parameter or system identification, shape determination, sensitivity analysis, optimization, material property characterization, ultrasonic non-destructive testing, elastodynamic inverse problems, thermal inverse problems, and other engineering applications.
Inverse problems occur in a wide variey of fields. In general, the inverse problem can be defined as one where one should estimate the cause from the result, while the direct problem is concerned with how to obtain the result from the cause. The aim of this symposium was to gather scientists and researchers in engineering mechanics concerned with inverse problems in order to exchange research result and develop computational and experimentalapproaches to solve inverse problems. The contributions in this volume cover the following subjects: mathematical and computational aspects of inverse problems, parameter or system identification, shape determination, sensitivity analysis, optimization, material property characterization, ultrasonic nondestructive testing, elastodynamic inverse problems, thermal inverse problems, and other miscellaneous engineering applications.