Book excerpt: The volume is devoted to mechanics of rods, which is a branch of mechanics of deformable bodies. The main goal of the book is to present systematically theoretical fundamentals of mechanics of rods as well as numerical methods used for practical purposes. The monograph is concerned with the most general statements of the problems in mechanics of rods. Various types of external loads that a rod may be subject to are discussed. Advanced technique that includes vector is used in the derivation of linear analysis, linear algebra, and distributions and nonlinear equilibrium equations. The use of this technique helps us to make transformations and rearrangement of equations more transparent and compact. Theoretical basics of rods interacting with external and internal flows of fluid and the derivation of the formulas for the hydrodynamic and aerody namic forces are presented. The book consists of six chapters and appendices and may be convention ally divided into two parts. That is, Chapters 1 to 3 contain, in the main, theoretical material, whereas Chapters 4 to6 illustrate the application of the theoretical results to problems of practical interest. Problems for self-study are found in Chapters 1, 3, 4, and 5. The solutions to most of the problems are given in Appendix B. The monograph is addressed to scientists, institutional and industrial re searchers, lecturers, and graduate students.