Natural Element Method For The Simulation Of Structures And Processes

The natural element methods are an alternative to the finite element method for solving partial differential equations, and are called meshless because they replace connectivity between the nodes with vicinity or field of influence. Chinesta (computational mechanics, Ecole Centrale of Nantes, France), Serge Cescotto (mechanical engineering, U. of Liege, Belgium) Elias Cueto (engineering, U. of Saragossa, Spain), and Philippe Lorong (art, Meteirs ParisTech, France) describe the technique in comparison with the well known finite element method, but also with other techniques, pointing out the benefits and limitations of each. The textbook or tutorial is for students or professionals at the Master's level. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Francisco Chinesta, born in 1966 in Valencia (Spain), obtained his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering (1990) and later his Ph.D. degree supervised at the ENS Cachan in France. He is currently Professor of Computational Mechanics at the Ecole Centrale of Nantes (France) and titular of the EADS Corporate Foundation International Chair on Advanced Modeling of Composites Manufacturing Processes.