K glossary entries

In sheet-metal bending, the K-factor is the ratio between the distance from the inside bend surface to the neutral axis and the material thickness.

K-means clustering partitions observations into k clusters by assigning each observation to the nearest centroid and updating centroids to minimize within-cluster squared distance.

A Kalman filter is a recursive state estimator that fuses a system model with noisy measurements while tracking estimation uncertainty.

A Kelvin bridge is a precision bridge circuit for measuring low resistance using separate current and voltage connections to minimize lead-resistance error.

A keyway is a slot machined in a shaft, hub, pulley, gear, or coupling to receive a key for torque transmission.

A kinematic chain is a set of links connected by joints so that motion of one link constrains and determines motion of others.

Kinetic energy is the mechanical energy associated with motion of a body or system.

Kirchhoff laws are circuit laws stating that currents sum to zero at a node and voltages sum to zero around a closed loop.

The Karush-Kuhn-Tucker conditions are first-order optimality conditions for constrained optimization problems with equality and inequality constraints.

Knock is abnormal combustion in a spark-ignition engine caused by spontaneous autoignition of the unburned mixture ahead of the flame front.

The Knudsen number is the ratio of molecular mean free path to a characteristic physical length scale.