Introduction to Structural Dynamics

Bruce K. Donaldson was first exposed to aircraft inertia loads when he was a carrier-based U.S. Navy anti-submarine pilot. He subsequently worked in the structural dynamics area at the Boeing Co. and at the Beech Aircraft Co. in Wichita, KS before returning to school and then embarking on an academic career in the area of structural analysis. He became a professor of Aerospace Engineering, and then a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Maryland. Professor Donaldson is the recipient of numerous teaching awards, and has maintained industrial contacts, working various summers at government agencies and for commercial enterprises, the last being Lockheed Martin at Fort Worth, Texas.

• Preface for student; Preface for instructor; 1. The Lagrange equations of motion; 2. Mechanical vibrations: practice using the Lagrange equations; 3. Review of the basics of the finite element method for simple elements; 4. FEM equations of motion for elastic systems; 5. Damped structural systems; 6. Natural frequencies and mode shapes; 7. The modal transformation; 8. Continuous dynamic models; 9. Numerical integration of the equations; Appendix I; Appendix II; Index.