BOOK REVIEWS / CRITIQUES DE LIVRES

Dynamics of civil engineering structures1

Michel Bruneau

Many of the recently published civil engineering books are acollection of chapters written by individual authors, experts intheir respective fields, and assembled by one or many editors.However, with 52 listed authors, this book certainly pushes themulti-author concept a notch further. In half of the chapters inthat book, each subsection is the work of individual authors.This could rapidly lead to a chaotic presentation in most cir-cumstances, but this approach actually works well for thisbook since it is apparently not meant to be an introduction tothe topic of dynamics of structure. The authors/editors do notindicate what is their intended audience, but rather suggest that“the volume presented herewith arose as a concentrated newview on structural dynamics of nearly all members of” theResearch Center on Structural Dynamics at the Ruhr-Univer-sity, “including some guests.” As such, this book seems to bea compendium of special topics on that subject, more of re-search interest than of pedagogical purposes.

In that perspective though, the book is useful. Without be-ing of encyclopaedic nature, it can be a good reference docu-ment to those with a basic knowledge of dynamics of structuresand who wish to undertake a study of a specialized subdisci-pline of this broad field. Thus, after a brief 70-page review ofthe basic principles in dynamics of structures (single degree offreedom, multi-degree of freedom, Fourier analysis, randomexcitations, and finite-element techniques) and a 50-page dis-cussion of basic dynamic response under wind, machinery, andearthquake excitations, specialized chapters follow on topicssuch as dynamic behaviour of materials and structural compo-nents, nonlinear dynamic behaviour under extreme loads, im-pact loading, dynamic instabilities, dynamic soil–structureinteraction, and experimental methods identification.

Depth of coverage obviously varies as a result of this am-bitious scope. The chapter on experimental methods providesan overview of all available hardware for dynamic studies,from the accelerometer to the centrifuge, including wind-tun-nel, shake-table, and many more along the way, whereas thechapter on dynamic structural instabilities provides an exten-sive mathematical treatment of that topic.

This reviewer found the chapter “impact loading problems”particularly interesting. Dynamics from impact is rarely ad-dressed to the depth it deserves in other books on dynamics ofstructures. Here, it is tackled from the basic principles of col-liding bodies in space having various coefficients of restitu-tion, up to the study of the resistance of plates to projectileshaving various nose configurations and of concrete structuresto ballistic missiles.

Unfortunately, and probably as a consequence of the multi-authorship, coverage of dynamic response under earthquakeexcitation is scattered throughout the book, and is not ad-dressed in the most appropriate sequence or to the depth itdeserves. There exists other books that more extensively ad-dress the dynamics of structures under seismic excitation.

Finally, it is noteworthy that figures of typical results frombasic equations or comparative studies are generally presentedin lieu of worked-out examples, and that the references reflecta definitive European bias, with many in German.

In conclusion, this book will likely be a useful tool to thosealready having a basic knowledge of dynamics of structuresand who wish to further study specialized topics of the dynam-ics of structures. Without going to the same depth for all topicscovered, the book nonetheless provides an effective road mapof where to find some of the additional information needed toundertake further studies.

Received January 6, 1997. Manuscript accepted April 11, 1997.

M. Bruneau. Ottawa Carleton Earthquake Engineering Research Centre, Department of Civil Engineering, 161 Louis Pasteur, Universityof Ottawa, Ottawa, ON KIN 6N5, Canada.

1 Edited by Wilfried B. Kratzig and Hans-Jurgen Niemann. A.A. Balkema Publishers, Old Post Road, Brookfield, VT 05036, U.S.A. 1996.630 p.

Can. J. Civ. Eng.24: 847 (1997)

847

© 1997 NRC Canada

L97-033.CHPTue Dec 02 16:32:27 1997

Color profile: DisabledComposite Default screen