1R17. Buckling Experiments: Experimental Methods in Buckling of Thin-Walled Structures. Shells, Built-up Structures, Composites and Additional Topics, Volume 2. - J Singer (Technion - Israel Inst of Tech, Haifa, Israel), J Arbocz (Delft Univ of Tech, The Netherlands), T Weller (Technion - Israel Inst of Tech, Haifa, Israel). Wiley, New York. 2002. 1732 pp. ISBN 0-471-97450-1. $275.00.
Reviewed by JA Cheney (Dept of Civil and Env Eng, UC, Davis CA 95616).
This book is the second volume of the two-volume book, Buckling Experiments, a handbook assessing the state of the art of experimental methods and results in the buckling of thin-walled structures from the point of view of the research scientist. The two volumes are closely related and interconnected.
Volume 1 addresses the basic concepts, columns, beams, arches, and plates, while Volume 2 considers shells, stiffened plates and shells, composite structures, plastic buckling, cutout and damage effects, dynamic loads, thermal buckling, non-destructive tests, and measurements.
This book, Volume 2, as in the first volume, presents selected typical experiments often described in great detail, with some comments focusing on questions raised during the test, the methods employed, and the actual test atmosphere. Though fairly extensive (over 1800 references), the lists of experimenters are by no means inclusive. Also, certain topics are not covered; for example, the buckling of thin-walled buried pipes.
In contrast to columns, which have a neutral post-buckling path, and plates, which exhibit a stable postbuckling behavior, shells usually have a very unstable postbuckling behavior, which strongly influences their buckling characteristics. Thin shells, however, are very efficient structures that can support very high buckling loads and hence their buckling and post-buckling behaviors have presented scientific and engineering challenges for decades.
Extensive theoretical studies connect initial post-buckling behavior with imperfection sensitivity. Unfortunately these methods have not yet been incorporated in engineering practice, and knock-down factors are still relied on primarily in the design of buckling-critical shells. One of the reasons for this slow and incomplete technology transfer from researcher to designer is probably due to the relative complexity of the analysis, as well as the difficulty encountered in correlating theory with experimental results. Another reason may have been the lack of experimental investigations that closely coordinated with theoretical studies, though thousands of shell-buckling tests have been carried out.
A final chapter covers comments on measurements. Since some excellent texts and handbooks on measurement techniques in structural and material testing have been published in recent years, a detailed general discussion of the subject is not included. The text does, however, catalog the types of strain sensors, displacement sensors, data acquisition systems, force transducers, pressure transducers, temperature measurements, accelerometers, vibration measurements, and acoustic and thermal emission sensors that are in common use in the field. The list is far from complete, but provides an overview and some guidelines to sources of more information.
Buckling Experiments: Experimental Methods in Buckling of Thin-Walled Structures (along with Volume 1) provides a remarkable compilation of experimental results previously published in the engineering literature from 1845 to the present day. It will be invaluable to any new experimenter in the field to lay the background for future experimental work. This reviewer believes the book is a must for technical libraries and, most likely, would be a welcomed presence in an experimenter’s laboratory in the field of structural stability.
