Customer Reviews

Aeroelasticity (Dover Books on Aeronautical Engineering)

5 star:		(3)
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3 star:		(1)
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This book is fantastic for expanding your knowledge on Aeroelasticity. It is true that it is certainly not modern, however the knowledge you can develop from the book is necessary for any proper understanding of an aeroelastic problem anyway. There is a good contrast between solution methods between the three sections (Section 1- Structures-Bisplinghoff, Section 2- Aerodynamics-Ashley, Section 3-Experimental Methods- Halfman).

The structures section is layed out clearly by Bisplinghoff, with all derivations extending essentially from first principles. Very good section on beam theory and mode shapes/frequency methods. Can be easily seen that Bisplinghoff's preferred method of solution uses linear algebra methods.

Aerodynamic section by Ashley is fantastic, all theory well layed out and defined. Certainly some very thorough calculus in this section, but not overly ambiguous. Most solutions are detailed very well, however the author does expect a reasonable understanding of Boundary value problems and Multivariate calculus from the reader. The work is generally of the standard of Holt Ashley, extremely thorough and abundantly mathematical. Incredible detail, I believe one of these chapters lists something like 450 equations.

I havn't read the Halfman section because I couldn't give a damn about experimental methods. My thesis is on analytical flutter predictions.

The practise problems are very good in the structures section, unfortunately however not really present in the aerodynamic section.

If you are studying any sort of Aeroelastic problem then you really should get this book. Comparitively, the textbook by Fung (while good) may as well be a picture book, and anyone who has ever been exposed to multiple textbooks can see that the text titled "A modern course in Aeroelasticity" is although technical, just a terrible text to read.

Hopefully this review has been helpful, but seriously if you are doing research in this field, this book is brimming with knowledge and it is $30. I was astounded by the price and bought it as soon as I saw it, and I'm very happy that I don't have to hire it out anymore.

I know this book for over 25 years and I consider it as one of the most useful in teaching the aeroelasticity, despite its obsolety in some aspects. Solid theory of structures and unsteady aerodynamics on basic level. Valuable examples. Clear physical explanations of aeroelastic phenomena. It's simply the best!

It would be fair to mention that the book was first published more than forty years ago, and that the most recent reference still dates back to the mid-fifties..

Aeroelasticity is one of those classic aeronautical references that presents material that is found nowhere else. It is the definitive work on scaling as applied to aircraft structures under aerodynamic loading. If you are serious about understanding the elastic behavior of an airplane's structure, you owe it to yourself to get this book and STUDY IT!