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.