Linear and Nonlinear Rotor Dynamics Toshio Yamamoto and Yukio Ishida, Wiley Series in Nonlinear Science, New York (2001), 325 pp. price £ 70.50;
Reviewer: Ales Tondl, Institute for Thermomechanics, Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic.

Level: medium.
The authors are well-known specialists in rotordynamics. After a preface by H.D. Nelson there are 12 chapters: 1. Introduction, 2. Vibrations of massless shafts with rigid discs, 3. Vibrations of continuous rotors, 4. Vibrations of an asymmetrical shaft and an asymmetrical rotor, 5. Nonlinear vibrations, 6. Self-excited vibrations due to internal damping, 7. Nonstationary vibrations during passage through critical speeds, 8. Vibrations due to mechanical elements, 9. Flow-induced vibrations, 10. Finite element method, 11. Transfer matrix method, 12. Measurement and signal processing.
Seven appendices give details on subjects like the Jeffcott rotor, computing methods and signal processing.
Not only vibrations due to unbalance (stationary and non-stationary) but also self-excited vibrations (due to internal damping, oil whip) and parametric excitation are analysed. There is an extensibe bibliography and a detailed index.

Rotordynamics represents a very broad field and there exists an enormous amount of literature. It can hardly be expected that in this limited scope all effects and phenomena arising in various rotating systems can be included or treated in detail. Still the authors succeed in presenting a very good text with instructive ideas on rotordynamics. The analysis is well presented with practical diagrams and figures. This enables one to obtain an actual physical idea about rotating systems which is very important for the evaluation of computing and measurement results.
The enormaous development of computing facilities has brought great progress but, on the other side, a decline of interest and use of analytical methods. Sometimes this resulted in less physical understanding of the system behaviour. This book presents a balanced approach. It can be recommended to researchers who want to be acquainted with rotordynamics but also as a textbook to postgraduate students.