These Conference Proceedings are intended to summarise the latest developments in diffraction and scattering theory as reported at the IU TAM Symposium on Diffraction and Scattering in Fluid Mechanics and Elasticity held in Manchester, England on 16-20 July 2000. This in formal meeting was organised to discuss mathematical advances, both from the theoretical and more applied points of view. However, its pri mary goal was to bring together groups of researchers working in dis parate application areas, but who nevertheless share common models, phenomenological features arising in such problems, and common math ematical tools. To this end, we were delighted to have four Plenary Speakers, Professors Allan Pierce, Ed Kerschen, Roger Grimshaw and John Willis FRS, who are undisputed leaders in the four thematic ar eas of our meeting (these are respectively acoustics, aeroacoustics, water or other free surface waves, elasticity). These Proceedings should offer an excellent vehicle for continuing the dialogue between these groups of researchers. The participants were invited because of their expertise and recent contributions to this field. Collectively, there were around 90 contrib utors to the Symposium from some 13 countries located all around the world. These included 45 speakers, 35 co-authors and about 10 other delegates. Individuals came from many of the major international cen tres of excellence in the field of scattering theory.

John G. Harris intended to explain in this book the special techniques required to model the radiation and diffraction of elastic and surface waves. Sadly, he died before he could fulfil this ambition, but his plan has been brought to fruition by a team of his distinguished collaborators. The book begins with the basic underlying equations for wave motion and then builds upon this foundation by solving a number of fundamental scattering problems. The remaining chapters provide a thorough introduction to modern techniques that have proven essential to understanding radiation and diffraction at high frequencies. Graduate students, researchers and professionals in applied mathematics, physics and engineering will find that the chapters increase in complexity, beginning with plane-wave propagation and spectral analyses. Other topics include elastic wave theory, the Wiener–Hopf technique, the effects of viscosity on acoustic diffraction, and the phenomenon of channelling of wave energy along guided structures.

Mechanics Today, Volume 4 focuses on solid mechanics and applied mathematics. This book is divided into six chapters. Chapter I provides a general description of the basic features and relevant concepts of mixed boundary-value problems in mechanics. The problem of crack extension in a solid under arbitrary loads is discussed in Chapter II, emphasizing the crack growth that leads from a planar to a nonplanar configuration. The third chapter reviews various methods of solving the scattering of elastic waves by inclusions. The interactions of electromagnetic field with deformable bodies in motion are elaborated in Chapter IV, while problems involving solids carrying high electric currents or being placed in high magnetic fields are deliberated in Chapter V. The last chapter concentrates on the implications of the second law of thermodynamics, and consequences of thermodynamic material stability and its corresponding restrictions on the evolutionary equations for internal variables. This publication is useful to specialists, but is also beneficial to non-experts with sufficient background in applied mechanics.