As an emerging discrete structural model, the Hencky bar-chain/net model (HBM) has shown its advantages over other numerical methods in some problems. Owing to the discrete properties of HBM, it is also a suitable model for nano-scale structures which are currently a very hot research topic in mechanics.
This book introduces the concepts and previous research of the Hencky bar-chain/net model, before demonstrating how beams, columns, arches, rectangular plates and circular plates could be successfully modelled by HBM. HBM comprises rigid bars connected by frictionless hinges with elastic rotational springs (and a system of torsional springs in the cells for plates). In the treatment of the above-mentioned structures, HBM is found to be mathematically equivalent to the first order central finite difference method (FDM). So HBM may be regarded as the physical structural model behind the FDM.
This book is a compilation of the authors' research on the development of the Hencky bar-chain/net model, and is organized according to the development and application of HBM for beams, columns, frames, arches and rings, and plates. Exercises are provided at the end of each chapter to aid comprehension and guide learning. It is a useful reference for students, researchers, academics and practitioners in the field of structural analysis.
Readership: Senior undergraduate students, graduate students, researchers and practitioners in the field of structural analysis, academics who are teaching courses on structural stability and vibration.
C M Wang is the TMR Chair Professor in Structural Engineering, The University of Queensland. He is a Fellow of Institution of Engineers Singapore, a Fellow of Academy of Engineering Singapore, a Fellow of Institution of Structural Engineers and a Fellow of Society of Floating Solutions (Singapore). His research interests are in the areas of structural stability, vibration, optimization, plated structures and Mega-Floats. He has won many awards that include Singapore's Minister of National Development's R&D Award (Special Mention Category), IStructE Singapore Structural Awards, Keith Eaton Award, Lewis Kent Award, IES Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award, IES/IStructE Best Paper Award and Grand Prize of the Next Generation Container Port Challenge. He was the consultant and advisor on many structural and floating projects that include the world's largest floating performance stage at Marina Bay, multi-purpose floating structures research ($7.13 million) project funded by the Land and Liveability National Innovation Committee and JTC Corporation, Maritime and Port Authority's ($2.14 million) project on uses of the underground space underneath container ports in Tuas.
H Zhang is Associate Professor in the School of Mechatronical Engineering, Beijing University of Technology. She worked as a Research Fellow in The University of Queensland. She was awarded her PhD degree from National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2017. Her research interests are in the areas of structural modelling, buckling, vibration, computational mechanics, optimization and nanostructures. She has won the First Paper Award in the International Conference on Advanced Materials, Structures and Mechanical Engineering (ICAMSME) held in Incheon, South Korea 2015 and Best Young Researcher Award in the 25th Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials (ACMSM25) in Brisbane, Australia 2018.
N Challamel is Professor at University of South Brittany (Université de Bretagne Sud — Lorient, France). He is the head of a research team in Civil Engineering and Multiscale Mechanics. His research at the University of South Brittany mainly concerns civil engineering, theoretical and applied mechanics problems, with a particular emphasis on scale effects, structural mechanics, stability, vibrations and material modeling (Continuum Damage Mechanics and Plasticity).
W H Pan is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Civil Engineering, The University of Queensland. He graduated with B.Sc. as an outstanding scholar of Department of Civil Engineering in Tsinghua University in 2013. He then proceeded to do his PhD in the same university and completed his PhD thesis on Composite Steel–Concrete Structures in 2018. His research interests are in the areas of analysis and design of steel and composite structures (with particular interests in the Hencky bar-chain/net model), structural stability and dynamics, fiber beam–column model, and arch structures.
