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A sound knowledge of dynamics has long been an integral part of an engineer's tool chest. The Back Pocket Dynamicist spans a wide range of engineering dynamics topics encountered in aerospace, automotive, and general machinery applications. Using a concise yet detailed approach, it provides a straightforward and logical treatment of rigid body dynamics, linear systems and transforms, transient and frequency response, modal methods, random vibration, control systems, hydraulic systems, and even fatigue under dynamic loading.
While the focus is on providing the reader with a robust foundation in engineering dynamics principles, there is a conscious effort to reinforce how these principles influence real-world engineering problems. Rarely will you find one book that covers such a wide and inter-related set of concepts in the field of dynamics. In fact, there are approximately 250 topics covered, including, for example, complex stiffness, observability, Bauschinger effect, modal synthesis, ergodicity, convolution, quaternions, Hamilton's Principle, inverse kinematics, hydraulic inductance, state transition matrix, and many more.
And this book is not an overview. Each subject is treated rigorously and many fully-worked example problems are provided. The book is based on the author's 35 years of work in the field. Whether you are a practicing engineer, an engineering manager, or even a student, this book is sure to provide valuable mathematical and intuitive insights not provided elsewhere. After reading The Back Pocket Dynamicist, you will have a new appreciation for the complex but elegant field of engineering dynamics.
The ten chapters (steps): 1) Rigid Body Kinematics; 2) Rigid Body Dynamics; 3) Linear Systems and Transforms; 4) Transient Linear Systems; 5) Frequency Response; 6) Combining FEA and MBD; 7) Random Vibration; 8) Control System Dynamics; 9) Hydraulic Systems; 10) Dynamic Fatigue Prediction.
About the author
Chris Davidson is currently a Sr. Application Engineer with MSC Software, where he has had the good fortune to be involved in many types of dynamic analysis. He holds an MS degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington and has been a licensed professional engineer in Washington state since 1996. Upon graduation, Chris began his career at the Boeing Company, where he developed dynamic hydraulic system models and helped certify hydro-mechanical equipment. Following Boeing, Chris worked for the Ford Motor Company helping develop hydro-mechanical models of automatic transmissions. Just Prior to MSC, Chris worked at Smiths Aerospace, where he served as a stress and performance engineer and finally CAE manager.
