Book Review ＂William R. Spillers and Keith M. MacBain. Structural Optimization,Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York, 2009＂

This book presents general theories and applications of structural optimization methods. The first chapter of the book introduces various basic concepts of structural optimization through several illustrative examples. Chapter 2 is devoted to a comprehensive review of math- ematical programming methods, including classical methods such as the simplex method, the （SLP） method, the interior point method and relatively new approaches such as genetic algo- rithms. The third chapter presents the main topic of this book, the SLP methods based on the incremental equations of structures. Some useful techniques in implementation of SLP, including the move limit, scaling and active constraint identifying, are discussed. In chapter 4, classical optimality criterion approaches, including the fully stress approach for truss struc- tures and its extensions for membrane and plate structures, are presented with demonstrative examples. The remaining chapters develop an overview of structural optimization problems, among which are dynamic optimization, multi-criterion optimization, earlier work on the op- timal layouts of plates, as well as some practical issues in general size and shape optimization problems.     

Letter to the Editor: Comments on the Paper “Inertia Effects in High-Rate Flow Through Heterogeneous Porous Media” by M. Fourar, R. Lenormand, M. Karimi-Fard, and R. Horne, Transport in Porous Media, DOI 10.1007/s11242-004-6800-6, 2005

In a recent article, Fourar et al. (Transp Porous Med, 2005, doi:10.1007/s11242-004-6800-6) analyzed the effect of heterogeneity in the permeability distribution on Forchheimer flow in porous media. They derived expressions to calculate the effective inertial coefficient in serial layers, parallel layers, and two-dimensional correlated media. Here, we highlight an inconsistency in their first-order expression for serial layers and extend their findings by providing closed-form expressions for the effective inertial coefficient in the case of a lognormal permeability distribution.     

Discussion of “The asymmetry of stress in granular media”: [J.P. Bardet and I. Vardoulakis,Int. J. Solids Struct. 2001, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 353–367]

The discussion concerns a recently proposed definition of average stress for granular materials, one which can manifest asymmetry in the absence of surface couples, body couples, and contact couples. The average stress was derived from a new postulate that employs virtual work terminology. The discussion shows that the postulate leads to a non-unique average stress and to a non-unique stress asymmetry.     

Chinese Journal of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (Bimonthly) Vol. 46, No. 2, 2014 CONTENTS

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R.Skalak教授在京作生物力学学术报告

美国哥伦比亚大学生物工程研究所所长,土木工程和工程力学系教授Richard Skalak,应北京大学和上海交通大学的邀请,于1982年2月先后访问了北京和上海。在北京期间,于2月13日在北京大学作了“血液流动力学”的报告,详述了他和钱煦(S.Chien)教授近几年来合作研究的细胞可变形性的研究成果,用有限元逐次逼近的方法处理了红血细胞在毛细血管中(管径甚至可以比红血细胞直径还要小),由正常的双凹圆盘形逐渐变为降落伞形或