Giorgio Diana

This book describes the enormous depth of work carried out since the early 1970s on the Messina Strait Bridge, up to the recent award of the detailed design and construction contract. This important work has included extensive studies, concepts and design developments, with far reaching applications, which have all confirmed the feasibility of this huge endeavour and have led to the optimisation of costs and expected performance levels. Attention is focused not only on the design itself, but also on the context for the project (e.g. historical, geological, seismo-tectonic and wind conditions; structural and mechanical properties; project management and financial aspects; and environmental considerations), and on the great challenges involved. Thus, considering the innovations and specific solutions adopted in overcoming the challenges presented by constructing a world record span of 3,300 metres at this site, it becomes clear how the Messina Strait Crossing will take its place as a masterpiece in bridge engineering history.This book will be of interest to bridge and structural engineers, geotechnical and wind engineers, mechanical and earthquake engineers, graduate students in all these areas and all others with a broad interest in bridge design and engineering.

This book introduces a general approach for schematization of mechanical systems with rigid and deformable bodies. It proposes a systems approach to reproduce the interaction of the mechanical system with different force fields such as those due to the action of fluids or contact forces between bodies, i.e., with forces dependent on the system states, introducing the concepts of the stability of motion. In the first part of the text mechanical systems with one or more degrees of freedom with large motion and subsequently perturbed in the neighborhood of the steady state position are analyzed. Both discrete and continuous systems (modal approach, finite elements) are analyzed. The second part is devoted to the study of mechanical systems subject to force fields, the rotor dynamics, techniques of experimental identification of the parameters and random excitations. The book will be especially valuable for students of engineering courses in Mechanical Systems, Aerospace, Automation and Energy but will also be useful for professionals. The book is made accessible to the widest possible audience by numerous, solved examples and diagrams that apply the principles to real engineering applications.

This book introduces a general approach for schematization of mechanical systems with rigid and deformable bodies. It proposes a systems approach to reproduce the interaction of the mechanical system with different force fields such as those due to the action of fluids or contact forces between bodies, i.e., with forces dependent on the system states, introducing the concepts of the stability of motion. In the first part of the text mechanical systems with one or more degrees of freedom with large motion and subsequently perturbed in the neighborhood of the steady state position are analyzed. Both discrete and continuous systems (modal approach, finite elements) are analyzed. The second part is devoted to the study of mechanical systems subject to force fields, the rotor dynamics, techniques of experimental identification of the parameters and random excitations. The book will be especially valuable for students of engineering courses in Mechanical Systems, Aerospace, Automation and Energy but will also be useful for professionals. The book is made accessible to the widest possible audience by numerous, solved examples and diagrams that apply the principles to real engineering applications.

This book describes the enormous depth of work carried out since the early 1970s on the Messina Strait Bridge, up to the recent award of the detailed design and construction contract. This important work has included extensive studies, concepts and design developments, with far reaching applications, which have all confirmed the feasibility of this huge endeavour and have led to the optimisation of costs and expected performance levels. Attention is focused not only on the design itself, but also on the context for the project (e.g. historical, geological, seismo-tectonic and wind conditions; structural and mechanical properties; project management and financial aspects; and environmental considerations), and on the great challenges involved. Thus, considering the innovations and specific solutions adopted in overcoming the challenges presented by constructing a world record span of 3,300 metres at this site, it becomes clear how the Messina Strait Crossing will take its place as a masterpiece in bridge engineering history.This book will be of interest to bridge and structural engineers, geotechnical and wind engineers, mechanical and earthquake engineers, graduate students in all these areas and all others with a broad interest in bridge design and engineering.