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Description of  Structural Impact (Cambridge University Press)

Structural Impact addresses the behavior of structures and components subjected to large dynamic loads that produce inelastic deformations. This field particularly interests those concerned with the crashworthiness design of aircraft, buses, cars, trains, ships and marine structures, and the energy-absorbing characteristics of various components for a wide range of safety calculations. The initial five chapters introduce the rigid plastic methods of analysis of the static behavior and the dynamic response of beams, plates and shells. These chapters develop the key features of the subject from an engineering viewpoint, and are followed by several chapters on various phenomena of importance in structural impact. The influence of transverse shear, rotatory inertia, finite-displacements and material strain rate sensitivity are introduced and studied in detail. Dynamic progressive buckling, which develops in several energy absorbing systems, is introduced in the penultimate chapter. Finally, the scaling laws are examined since they are important for relating the response of small-scale experimental tests to the behavior of full-scale prototypes. The author, who has gained extensive experience in the impact field and has published over 120 publications in the past twenty years, presents the material in an appealingly simple, yet rigorous manner. This book is for advanced undergraduates and graduate students in engineering, and design engineers.