A senior-level undergraduate course entitled “Vibration and Flutter” was taught for many years at Georgia Tech under the quarter system. This course dealt with elementary topics involving the static and/or dynamic behavior of structural elements, both without and with the influence of a flowing fluid. The course did not deal with the static behavior of structures in the absence of fluid flow, because this is typically considered in courses in structural mechanics. Thus, the course essentially dealt with the fields of “Structural Dynamics” (when fluid flow is not considered) and “Aeroelasticity” (when it is).

As the name suggests, structural dynamics is concerned with the vibration and dynamic response of structural elements. It can be regarded as a subset of aeroelasticity, the field of study concerned with interaction between the deformation of an elastic structure in an airstream and the resulting aerodynamic force. Aeroelastic phenomena can be observed on a daily basis in nature (e.g., the swaying of trees in the wind, the humming sound Venetian blinds make in the wind, etc.). The most general aeroelastic phenomena include dynamics, but static aeroelastic phenomena are also quite important. The course has been expanded to cover a full semester, and the course title has been appropriately changed to “Introduction to Structural Dynamics and Aeroelasticity.”

Aeroelastic and structural dynamic phenomena can result in dangerous static and dynamic deformations and instabilities and, thus, have very important practical consequences in many areas of technology.