This essential textbook concerns analysis and control of engineering mechanisms, which includes almost any apparatus with moving parts used in daily life, from musical instruments to robots. A particular characteristic of this book is that it presents with considerable breadth and rigor both vibrations and controls. Many contemporary texts combine both of these topics in a single, one term course. This text supports the more favorable circumstance where the material is covered in a one year sequence contains enough material for a two semester sequence, but it can also be used in a single semester course combining two topics. “Mechanical Systems: A Unified Approach to Vibrations and Controls” presents a common notation and approach to these closely related areas. Examples from the both vibrations and controls components are integrated throughout this text.

This is a textbook for a first course in mechanical vibrations. There are many books in this area that try to include everything, thus they have become exhaustive compendiums, overwhelming for the undergraduate. In this book, all the basic concepts in mechanical vibrations are clearly identified and presented in a concise and simple manner with illustrative and practical examples. Vibration concepts include a review of selected topics in mechanics; a description of single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) systems in terms of equivalent mass, equivalent stiffness, and equivalent damping; a unified treatment of various forced response problems (base excitation and rotating balance); an introduction to systems thinking, highlighting the fact that SDOF analysis is a building block for multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) and continuous system analyses via modal analysis; and a simple introduction to finite element analysis to connect continuous system and MDOF analyses. There are more than sixty exercise problems, and a complete solutions manual. The use of MATLAB® software is emphasized.

The control of vibrating systems is a significant issue in the design of aircraft, spacecraft, bridges and high-rise buildings. This 2001 book discusses the control of vibrating systems, integrating structural dynamics, vibration analysis, modern control and system identification. Integrating these subjects is an important feature in that engineers will need only one book, rather than several texts or courses, to solve vibration control problems. The book begins with a review of basic mathematics needed to understand subsequent material. Chapters then cover more recent and valuable developments in aerospace control and identification theory, including virtual passive control, observer and state-space identification, and data-based controller synthesis. Many practical issues and applications are addressed, with examples showing how various methods are applied to real systems. Some methods show the close integration of system identification and control theory from the state-space perspective, rather than from the traditional input-output model perspective of adaptive control. This text will be useful for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students in aerospace, mechanical and civil engineering, as well as for practising engineers.

These papers, presented at the 14th Biennial ASME Conference on Vibration and Noise, held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, September 1993, represent a cross-section of the many directions that researchers are currently pursuing in characterizing and controlling the response of distributed parameter syste