General Comments

Rationale and Scope

• The material covered by this book spans the areas of vibration and buckling. Both of these areas can be considered as subsets of structural mechanics and play a central role in the disciplines of civil, mechanical, and aerospace engineering.

• Although vibration and buckling are key elements in the teaching of advanced engineering, they are typically taught separately. However, the interplay of dynamics and stability in structural mechanics and its coverage in a single text provide an opportunity to present material in an interesting way.

• The quest for stronger, stiffer, and more lightweight structural systems is making the material covered in this book increasingly important in practical applications.

• By using axially loaded structures as a consistent theme, the book covers a wide variety of types of structure, methods of analysis, and potential applications without trying to cover too much. Experimental verification appears throughout.

• The level of material is appropriate for upper-level, advanced undergraduate classes, and graduate students, but researchers and practicing engineers will find plenty of interest too.

• The text is liberally illustrated by figures, and close to 500 technical references are given.

Acknowledgments

The material presented in this book contains a synthesis of material from the general literature together with results from my own research program. In terms of the latter, this is by no means a solo endeavor, and there are a number of people I would like to thank.