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.