wide range of vibration topics and, in most cases, have practical applications
to real-world problems. The exercises have been reorganized to correlate with
the most appropriate section of the text. A glossary has been added to list in
one place the definitions of the major terms used in the book. Finally, this edi-
tion of the book includes seven appendices on the following: i) Laplace trans-
form pairs, ii) Fourier series, iii) notion of the decibel, iv) complex numbers
and variables, v) linear algebra, vi) solution methods to second-order ordinary
differential equations, and vii) natural frequencies and mode shapes of bar,
shafts, and strings.
In terms of how this book can be used for a semester-long undergraduate
course, our experience at the University of Maryland has been the following.
In a course format with about 28 seventy-five minute lectures, we have been
able to cover the following material: Chapter 1; Chapter 2 excluding Section
2.5; Chapter 3; Sections 4.1 to 4.3 of Chapter 4; Chapter 5 excluding Sections
5.3.3, 5.8, 5.9, and 5.10; Sections 6.1 to 6.3 of Chapter 6; Sections 7.1 to 7.3
of Chapter 7 excluding Sections 7.2.3, 7.3.3, and 7.3.4; and Sections 8.1, 8.2,
8.4, 8.5, and 8.6.1 of Chapter 8. We also have used this book in a format with
28 fifty-minute lectures and 14 ninety-minute-long studio sessions for an un-
dergraduate course. In courses with lecture sessions and studio sessions, the
studio sessions can include MATLAB studios and physical experiments, and
in this format, one may be able to address material from Sections 2.5, 4.4, 4.5,
5.10, 7.2, and 8.6. Of course, there are sections such as Section 4.2 of Chap-
ter 4, which may be too long to be covered in its entirety. In sections such as
these, it is important to strike a balance through a combination of reading as-
signments and classroom instruction. Our experience is that a careful choice
of periodic reading assignments can help the instructor cover a considerable
amount of material, if desired. We also encourage an instructor to take ad-
vantage of the large number of examples provided in this book. Chapter 9 is
not covered during the classroom lectures, but students are encouraged to ex-
plore material in this chapter through the project component of the course if
appropriate. It is also conceivable that Chapters 6, 7, 8, and 9 can form the
core of a graduate course on vibrations.
We express our sincere thanks to our former students for their spirited
participation with regard to earlier versions of this book and for providing
feedback; to the reviewers of this manuscript for their constructive sugges-
tions; our colleagues Professor Bruce Berger for his careful reading of Chap-
ter 1, Professor Amr Baz for suggesting material and examples for inclusion,
Professor Donald DeVoe for pointing us to some of the literature on micro-
electromechanical systems, and Dr. Henry Haslach for reading and com-
menting on parts of Chapter 9; Professor Miao Yu for using this book in the
classroom and providing feedback, especially with regard to Chapter 5; Pro-
fessor Jae-Eun Oh of Hanyang University, South Korea, for spending a gen-
erous amount of time in reading the early versions of Chapters 1 through 6
and providing feedback for the material as well as suggestions for the exer-
cises and their solutions; and Professor Sergio Preidikman of University of
Córdoba, Argentina, for using this book in the classroom, providing feedback
to enhance the book, as well as for pointing out many typographical errors in
Preface xiii