The History of the Theory of Structures


Book Description

This book traces the evolution of theory of structures and strength of materials - the development of the geometrical thinking of the Renaissance to become the fundamental engineering science discipline rooted in classical mechanics. Starting with the strength experiments of Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo, the author examines the emergence of individual structural analysis methods and their formation into theory of structures in the 19th century. For the first time, a book of this kind outlines the development from classical theory of structures to the structural mechanics and computational mechanics of the 20th century. In doing so, the author has managed to bring alive the differences between the players with respect to their engineering and scientific profiles and personalities, and to create an understanding for the social context. Brief insights into common methods of analysis, backed up by historical details, help the reader gain an understanding of the history of structural mechanics from the standpoint of modern engineering practice. A total of 175 brief biographies of important personalities in civil and structural engineering as well as structural mechanics plus an extensive bibliography round off this work.




The History of the Theory of Structures


Book Description

This book traces the evolution of theory of structures and strength of materials - the development of the geometrical thinking of the Renaissance to become the fundamental engineering science discipline rooted in classical mechanics. Starting with the strength experiments of Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo, the author examines the emergence of individual structural analysis methods and their formation into theory of structures in the 19th century. For the first time, a book of this kind outlines the development from classical theory of structures to the structural mechanics and computational mechanics of the 20th century. In doing so, the author has managed to bring alive the differences between the players with respect to their engineering and scientific profiles and personalities, and to create an understanding for the social context. Brief insights into common methods of analysis, backed up by historical details, help the reader gain an understanding of the history of structural mechanics from the standpoint of modern engineering practice. A total of 175 brief biographies of important personalities in civil and structural engineering as well as structural mechanics plus an extensive bibliography round off this work.




Elements of Stress Analysis


Book Description

This book analyses problems in elasticity theory, highlighting elements of structural analysis in a simple and straightforward way.




A History of the Theory of Structures in the Nineteenth Century


Book Description

An account which skilfully blends the personalities and great works of Britain's railway construction boom.




History of Strength of Materials


Book Description

Strength of materials is that branch of engineering concerned with the deformation and disruption of solids when forces other than changes in position or equilibrium are acting upon them. The development of our understanding of the strength of materials has enabled engineers to establish the forces which can safely be imposed on structure or components, or to choose materials appropriate to the necessary dimensions of structures and components which have to withstand given loads without suffering effects deleterious to their proper functioning. This excellent historical survey of the strength of materials with many references to the theories of elasticity and structures is based on an extensive series of lectures delivered by the author at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California. Timoshenko explores the early roots of the discipline from the great monuments and pyramids of ancient Egypt through the temples, roads, and fortifications of ancient Greece and Rome. The author fixes the formal beginning of the modern science of the strength of materials with the publications of Galileo's book, "Two Sciences," and traces the rise and development as well as industrial and commercial applications of the fledgling science from the seventeenth century through the twentieth century. Timoshenko fleshes out the bare bones of mathematical theory with lucid demonstrations of important equations and brief biographies of highly influential mathematicians, including: Euler, Lagrange, Navier, Thomas Young, Saint-Venant, Franz Neumann, Maxwell, Kelvin, Rayleigh, Klein, Prandtl, and many others. These theories, equations, and biographies are further enhanced by clear discussions of the development of engineering and engineering education in Italy, France, Germany, England, and elsewhere. 245 figures.




Theory of Structures


Book Description




Fundamentals of Structural Dynamics


Book Description

This text closes the gap between traditional textbooks on structural dynamics and how structural dynamics is practiced in a world driven by commercial software, where performance-based design is increasingly important. The book emphasizes numerical methods, nonlinear response of structures, and the analysis of continuous systems (e.g., wave propagation). Fundamentals of Structural Dynamics: Theory and Computation builds the theory of structural dynamics from simple single-degree-of-freedom systems through complex nonlinear beams and frames in a consistent theoretical context supported by an extensive set of MATLAB codes that not only illustrate and support the principles, but provide powerful tools for exploration. The book is designed for students learning structural dynamics for the first time but also serves as a reference for professionals throughout their careers.




Theory of Structures


Book Description

This book provides the reader with a consistent approach to theory of structures on the basis of applied mechanics. It covers framed structures as well as plates and shells using elastic and plastic theory, and emphasizes the historical background and the relationship to practical engineering activities. This is the first comprehensive treatment of the school of structures that has evolved at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich over the last 50 years. The many worked examples and exercises make this a textbook ideal for in-depth studies. Each chapter concludes with a summary that highlights the most important aspects in concise form. Specialist terms are defined in the appendix. There is an extensive index befitting such a work of reference. The structure of the content and highlighting in the text make the book easy to use. The notation, properties of materials and geometrical properties of sections plus brief outlines of matrix algebra, tensor calculus and calculus of variations can be found in the appendices. This publication should be regarded as a key work of reference for students, teaching staff and practising engineers. Its purpose is to show readers how to model and handle structures appropriately, to support them in designing and checking the structures within their sphere of responsibility.




The Structure of Evolutionary Theory


Book Description

The world’s most revered and eloquent interpreter of evolutionary ideas offers here a work of explanatory force unprecedented in our time—a landmark publication, both for its historical sweep and for its scientific vision. With characteristic attention to detail, Stephen Jay Gould first describes the content and discusses the history and origins of the three core commitments of classical Darwinism: that natural selection works on organisms, not genes or species; that it is almost exclusively the mechanism of adaptive evolutionary change; and that these changes are incremental, not drastic. Next, he examines the three critiques that currently challenge this classic Darwinian edifice: that selection operates on multiple levels, from the gene to the group; that evolution proceeds by a variety of mechanisms, not just natural selection; and that causes operating at broader scales, including catastrophes, have figured prominently in the course of evolution. Then, in a stunning tour de force that will likely stimulate discussion and debate for decades, Gould proposes his own system for integrating these classical commitments and contemporary critiques into a new structure of evolutionary thought. In 2001 the Library of Congress named Stephen Jay Gould one of America’s eighty-three Living Legends—people who embody the “quintessentially American ideal of individual creativity, conviction, dedication, and exuberance.” Each of these qualities finds full expression in this peerless work, the likes of which the scientific world has not seen—and may not see again—for well over a century.




Theory of Adaptive Structures


Book Description

Theory of Adaptive Structures provides the basic theory for controlling adaptive structures in static and dynamic environments. It synthesizes well-established theories on modern control as well as statics and dynamics of deformable bodies. Discussions concentrate on the discrete parameter adaptive structures dealing with actuator placement, actuator selection, and actuation computation problems - keeping these structures at close proximity of any chosen nominal state with the least energy consumption. An introduction to the distributed parameter adaptive structures is also provided. The book follows that modern trend in research and industry striving to incorporate intelligence into engineered products through microprocessors that are becoming smaller, faster, and cheaper at astounding rates. Not using them in engineered products may become an enormous liability. Resulting from the advances in materials technology on sensors and actuator technologies as well as the availability of very powerful and reliable microprocessors, there is an ever-increasing interest in actively controlling the behavior of engineering systems. Engineers and engineering scientists must revive and broaden their activities to maximize applications for predicting and controlling the behavior of deformable bodies. Topics include: An introduction to adaptive structures Incremental excitation-response relations in static and dynamic cases Active control of response in static case Statically determinate adaptive structures Statically indeterminate adaptive structures Active vibration control for autonomous and non-autonomous cases Active control against wind Active control against seismic loads Distributed parameter adaptive structures The technology of adaptive structures has created an environment where the analysis, not the computation, of structural response - due to actuator-inserted deformations - has become important. Problems related to the placement, the operation in real time, and the energy consumption of the actuators require the review and broadening of the theories long dormant due to the emphasis placed in the numerical simulations of structural behavior by the displacement finite element method. This book furnishes the basic theory needed by modern engineers in the design and control of discrete parameter adaptive structures .