Book excerpt: Mechanical engineering, an engineering discipline born of the needs of the Industrial Revolution, is once again asked to do its substantial share in the call for industrial renewal. The general call is urgent as we face the profound issues of productivity and competitiveness that require engineering solutions, among others. The Mechanical Engineering Series is a new series, featuring graduate texts and research monographs, intended to address the need for information in contemporary areas of mechanical engineering. The series is conceived as a comprehensive one that will cover a broad range of concentrations important to mechanical engineering graduate education and research. We are fortunate to have a distinguished roster of consulting editors, each an expert in one of the areas of concentration. The names of the consult ing editors are listed on page vi. The areas of concentration are applied mechanics, biomechanics, computational mechanics, dynamic systems and control, energetics, mechanics of materials, processing, thermal science, and tribology. We are pleased to present Nonlinear Analysis of Thin-Walled Structures by James F. Doyle. Austin, Texas Frederick F. Ling Preface This book is concerned with the challenging subject of the nonlinear static, dynamic, and stability analyses of thin-walled structures. It carries on from where Static and Dynamic Analysis of Structures, published by Kluwer 1991, left off; that book concentrated on frames and linear analysis, while the present book is focused on plated structures, nonlinear analysis, and a greater emphasis on stability analysis.