Dynamics of civil engineering structures

Abstract

Many of the recently published civil engineering books are a collection of chapters written by individual authors, experts in their respective fields, and assembled by one or many editors. However, with 52 listed authors, this book certainly pushes the multi-author concept a notch further. In half of the chapters in that book, each subsection is the work of individual authors. This could rapidly lead to a chaotic presentation in most circumstances, but this approach actually works well for this book since it is apparently not meant to be an introduction to the topic of dynamics of structure. The authors/editors do not indicate what is their intended audience, but rather suggest that “the volume presented herewith arose as a concentrated new view on structural dynamics of nearly all members of” the Research Center on Structural Dynamics at the Ruhr-University, “including some guests.” As such, this book seems to be a compendium of special topics on that subject, more of research interest than of pedagogical purposes. In that perspective though, the book is useful. Without being of encyclopaedic nature, it can be a good reference document to those with a basic knowledge of dynamics of structures and who wish to undertake a study of a specialized subdiscipline of this broad field. Thus, after a brief 70-page review of the basic principles in dynamics of structures (single degree of freedom, multi-degree of freedom, Fourier analysis, random excitations, and finite-element techniques) and a 50-page discussion of basic dynamic response under wind, machinery, and earthquake excitations, specialized chapters follow on topics such as dynamic behaviour of materials and structural components, nonlinear dynamic behaviour under extreme loads, impact loading, dynamic instabilities, dynamic soil‐structure interaction, and experimental methods identification. Depth of coverage obviously varies as a result of this ambitious scope. The chapter on experimental methods provides an overview of all available hardware for dynamic studies, from the accelerometer to the centrifuge, including wind-tunnel, shake-table, and many more along the way, whereas the chapter on dynamic structural instabilities provides an extensive mathematical treatment of that topic. This reviewer found the chapter “impact loading problems” particularly interesting. Dynamics from impact is rarely addressed to the depth it deserves in other books on dynamics of structures. Here, it is tackled from the basic principles of colliding bodies in space having various coefficients of restitution, up to the study of the resistance of plates to projectiles having various nose configurations and of concrete structures to ballistic missiles. Unfortunately, and probably as a consequence of the multiauthorship, coverage of dynamic response under earthquake excitation is scattered throughout the book, and is not addressed in the most appropriate sequence or to the depth it deserves. There exists other books that more extensively address the dynamics of structures under seismic excitation. Finally, it is noteworthy that figures of typical results from basic equations or comparative studies are generally presented in lieu of worked-out examples, and that the references reflect a definitive European bias, with many in German. In conclusion, this book will likely be a useful tool to those already having a basic knowledge of dynamics of structures and who wish to further study specialized topics of the dynamics of structures. Without going to the same depth for all topics covered, the book nonetheless provides an effective road map of where to find some of the additional information needed to undertake further studies.