Book reviews

known in the international community of

earthquake engineering, and in the
broader community of structural engineering, and mechanics, because of his
outstanding work as a researcher and
research leader in structural dynamics
and also because of his present role of
General Editor of the journal Earthquake
Engineerin 9 and Structural Dynamics.
In this book Professor Warburton
deals with the kinds of design provisions
apt to reduce the dynamic response of a
structure to earthquake excitation: additional damping devices, base isolation,
tuned mass dampers (absorbers); active
control systems. The four methods of
vibration reduction are elucidated from
their basic ideas to the practical implementations and their potentialities are
comparatively discussed by means of applications to simple structural models.
The presentation preserves the style of
an excellent lecture: optimal compromise
between the conflicting requirements of
conciseness and clearness; abundant and
well chosen visualization by neat graphs
and photos, a tutorial approach with
focus on essential aspects (with some
more technical information relegated to
appendices), carefully selected references
to the available literature.
This authoritative conspectus of the
title subject is certainly of interest to

396

nonspecialists like this reviewer, because

it provides an effective introduction to a
timely research topic in applied mechanics. However, this volume is likely to
appeal also to the experts as an up-todate state-of-the-art concerning an important and growing area of earthquake
engineering and structural dynamics.

Giulio Maier

Experimental and numerical

methods in earthquake
engineering - reliability and
risk analysis
J. Donea and P. M. Jones (ed).
Kluwer A cademic Publishers,
Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 1991
ISBN: 0.7923. 1434.4 SUS 105.00
This book is a conglomeration of research papers presented during an advanced study seminar held at the Joint
Research Center, Ispra Italy, 7-11 October 1991. The topics cover a wide spectrum from experimental testing of
structures, both in field and laboratories
to high tuned numerical investigations.
Therefore, the book addresses itself

Eng. Struct. 1993, Volume 15, Number 5

primarily to academic researchers and

high level designers, in my view, it can
offer only limited benefit to ordinary
undergraduate, and graduate students. It
lacks coherence, integration and continuity because there are 14 chapters presented by some 22 different authors.
The book is a paradise, however, for
those who are interested in (1), understanding the influence of infill walls in
seismic behaviour of concrete and steel
frames; (2), discovering the free and
forced vibration characteristics of a suspension bridge, of a rock fill dam or an
arch dam, (3), exploring how the liquefaction failure, which is a menace for safe
earthquake design, can be a magical tool
for seismic base isolation, (4), eliminating
a shaking table for the purpose of testing
a structural model subject to a ground
motion, by means of exerting horizontal
displacements at the superstructure of
the fixed base model. In each of these
topics, extensive and most informative
data are available through in situ and
laboratory testing as well as through the
finite element method of numerical analyses. For these highly advanced and upto-date topics of experimental research in
earthquake engineering, the book is well
worth keeping on our shelves.

Semih S. Tezcan