3R24. Fatigue Damage.Mechanical Vibration and Shock Series, Vol IV.- C Lalanne (French Atomic Energy Authority, France). Hermes Sci Publ, Paris. Distributed in USA by Taylor & Francis Publ, New York NY. 2002. 352 pp. ISBN 1-56032-989-0. $150.00.
Reviewed by SF Stiemer (Civil Eng Dept, Univ of British Columbia, 2324 Main Mall, Vancouver BC, V6T 124, Canada).
This reference book provides a very complete discussion of the behavior of material suffering fatigue and basics dealing with fatigue accumulation. The format of the book and its presentation is of high quality and in a classic style. The text is well written and reads easily, while the formula and graphs are presented in a very orderly and appealing way.
This book is unique in that it tightly integrates random vibration procedures with fatigue analysis. Many authors have attempted to effectively combine the topics of random vibration and fatigue analysis. Christian Lalanne is one of the few who succeeded in covering as well as relating both topics. This book can be highly recommended to students, researchers, and development engineers involved in random vibration related fatigue analysis and design.
The author emphasizes the complete and systematic presentation of often-used formulations and theories related to random vibrations and fatigue designs. The coverage on related topics in random analysis and fatigue is comprehensive, which is rarely found in engineering books of the same category. The formulations are clearly laid out and properly referenced.
A minor weak point of the book is its lack of dealing with practical design issues. While focusing more on theories and formulations, the author fails to expand on comprehensive design examples. These are needed to illustrate as well as verify complex calculation formulations in today’s design scenario. A few simple and precisely described calculation examples are provided in the book; however, if the book is to be used by practicing engineers and designers, more concrete numerical examples of higher complexity are desirable.
This reviewer can highly recommend this outstanding book, Fatigue Damage: Mechanical Vibration and Shock Series, Volume IV for use mainly in the academic and theoretical fields. The author needs to be commended for concentrating on the basic theories and smooth integration of the issues in vibration and fatigue. This might reduce the appeal of the book to the practicing engineer; however, it could make the book one of the standard reference tools for academics.
