Book excerpt: One of the principal challenges in structural engineering concerns the development of innovative design concepts to better protect structures, together with their occupants and contents, from the damaging effects of destructive environmental forces including those due to winds, waves and earthquakes. Passive energy dissipation devices, when incorporated into a structure, absorb or consume a portion of the input energy,thereby reducing energy dissipation demand on primary structural members and minimizing possible structural damage. This book is a unified treatment of passive energy dissipation systems. Basic principles, mathematical modeling, practical considerations, implementation issues and structural applications are discussed for each major device type. Numerous examples and case studies are included.