Elements of Structural Dynamics - A New Perspective





Preface

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this book is one of the few attempts at a top-down

approach to the subject of structural dynamics. Thus, unlike the oft-treaded route followed

in most texts, we depart from introducing the single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) oscillator

and its response features in the first chapter and rather start with the basic principles of

linear momentum balance of isotropic and linearly elastic systems, which in turn yield

the governing equations of motion in structural dynamics. Whilst an SDOF oscillator is

commonly viewed as, and rightly so, as one of the simplest building blocks for the instruments

of mathematical modelling needed for an insightful understanding of the subject,

it is generally far removed (at least from a functional perspective) from what we usually

qualify as structural dynamic systems of engineering interest. Accordingly, despite its


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