U. Leipholz – Författare

This book is an outgrowth of several years of teaching and research of the two authors in the field of structural dynamics and control. The content of the book is based on structural dynamics, classical and modern control theory and involves also recent developments that took place with respect to the control of systems with distri­ buted masses. It is hoped that the book will serve the researcher and the practicing engineer in the areas of ci vi 1, mechanical and aeronautical engineering. It may also be of interest to applied mathematicians and to physicists. There is no question that the book can be used as a reference book for advanced courses in the above mentioned areas. The numerous examples will provide students with the necessary material for exercising themselves and for self­ studying. Thanks are due to Mrs. Cynthia Jones for preparing patiently and competently the typescript of the book. The services of Mrs. Linda Strouth, Solid Mechanics Division, University of Waterloo, rendered in producing the camera-ready copy of the book with great skill and devotion, are gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks go to Mr. Ir. Ad. C. Plaizier, at Martinus Nijhoff/Dr. W. Junk, who with much understanding and enthusiasm supervised the production of the book as Publisher. May the readers of it enjoy it, and may they have the fee ling of having gained something in turning to it and using it.

The topic of "structural control", which had already experienced some attention through publications, for example by Roorda, Yao, Yang, Abdel-Rohman, Leipholz etc. , mostly in journals of ASCE, was given its fIrst international forum at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, via an ruTMf - Symposium held in June, 1979. This very successful event gathered experts from a variety of technical and theoretical domains in which control plays tradi­ tionally an essential role and was meant to present the new idea of structural control to a broad audience, thus triggering interest and commitment as well as cross-fertilization. However, the peculiarities of structural control were already sumciently well pointed out and stressed by those participants of the symposium who had devoted themselves earlier to this specwc topic for some time. The result of presentations and discussions are collected in a set of Proceedings entitled "Structural Control", published by North - Holland Publishing Company and the Solid Mechanics Division (SMD) of the University of Waterloo. The stimulation following this fIrst symposium was quite noticeable in the literature and led to the conviction of many researchers that after a reasonable period of time, a second meeting should be held to collect the fruits produced by the intermediate efforts of those working with increased emphasis on structural control. Therefore, Professors J. T. P. Yao, Department of Civil Engineering, Purdue University and H. H. E.