BOOK REVIEWS

Waves in ocean engineering

M. J. Tucker

Ellis Horwood, Chichester, 1991,

431pages, ISBN 0 13 932955 2
Waves in Ocean Engineering is one of a
series of texts covering various aspects of
marine science published by Ellis Horwood. The book is well produced with
clear text and figures as well as a comprehensive list of references. The book
should be particularly useful to engineers,
naval architects and scientists working
with the ocean surface environment as well
as students studying marine science.
With our ever increasing use of the
oceans for a wide range of activities such
as fossil fuel recovery, offshore and
coastal development, aquaculture and
renewable energy, it is essential to
describe and understand wave action in
order to survive this hostile environment.
The mathematical description of ocean
waves is a complex subject and the equations are often semi-empirical, combining
fundamental theory with observation. The
measurement and prediction of wave
climates is also difficult and considerable
experience is needed to interpret the data
produced. There are very few comprehensive texts on this subject and often the
marine engineer has to rely on a variety of
technical papers each dealing with specific
aspects of the subject.
This book provides a comprehensive and
coherent picture of how wave data is
obtained I interpreted for practical application, successfully combining theory and
practice. The application of wave data to
offshore and coastal engineering design is
not included.
Following a brief introduction outlining
the requirements for wave information
sources of wave data and a discussion of
freak waves and spectral analysis the
reader is provided with a complete chapter
on basic concepts and definitions This
chapter is particularly useful as it provides
a concise reference manual for the most
commonly used equations Further theory
is introduced progressively throughout the
book when required to describe particular
aspects of waves. For example Chapter 9
describes how the wave characteristics are
transformed by the sea bed topography
Consequently a prior knowledge of ocean
waves is not assumed.
Much of the book is devoted to describing methods of obtaining wave data and the
subsequent analysis and interpretation of
the measurements made. Methods of

measuring wave climates both directly and

remotely are described along with the
appropriate analysis techniques for each
type of system. Equipment and analysis
techniques for producing both omnidirectional and directional spectra are included.
A chapter is devoted to wind-wave interaction and the techniques available for
forecasting wave climates This is
extremely useful as measured wave data is
not often available at the site of interest and
so it is necessary to predict wave climates
from meteorological data. A further
chapter describes how extreme waves can
be predicted from limited field data.
Finally there is a discussion of nonlinear
effects and the errors and uncertainties
associated with the theory presented and
the techniques described.
The forces induced by breaking waves
often produce the most significant design
loads on structures which are located in
shallow coastal waters. Unfortunately this
important subject is only discussed briefly
in the book and is dispersed throughout the
chapters. It could be argued that a complete chapter should be devoted to this
topic.
In conclusion, the author has clearly
identified the requirement, for a book of
this type. It is a comprehensive reference
book for those working with the ocean surface environment and is therefore highly
recommended.

T. J. T. Whittaker

Stability of structures
Z. J. Bazant and L. Cedolin

OUP, Oxford, 1991, 70, ISBN

O- 19-505529-2
And still the wonder grew, that two small
heads could carry all they knew

A book of almost 1000 pages, weighing

1620 grams and costing 70, by two
authors with unpronounceable names is
enough to daunt the most seasoned
reviewer To what extent is this first
impression sustained by a detailed study of
the contents ? The title of the book suggests an account of buckling behaviour and
this is evidently the major theme. But the
authors take a much wider view of the term
'stability' than this. They include theories
of fracture and damage, and even the
effects of creep (though this does not
appear in the subtitle). The book is really

a compendium of information about most

of the ways in which structures lose their
ability to support load.
The book, like others of its kind, starts
with an account of the buckling of columns. Here is a remarkably compact treatment of the subject, quite densely written,
but expressed clearly and simply, with a
precise use of language that minimizes the
risk of ambiguity and misunderstanding. In
the space of 46 pages the discussion
develops from basic bending theory,
through the use of the differential equation, to imperfect struts, the basis of codes
of practice, the effects of shear, and then
on to large deflections, closing with a short
section on spatial buckling under torque
and axial force (a subject developed further
in a later chapter) This is all standard
material but the authors bring it to life with
some unusual examples and illustrations.
Some of these are concerned with the surprising effects of certain boundary conditions; others with the behaviour of
columns containing liquids under pressure,
or columns with pretstressed tendons
Even sandwich columns come under
scrutiny, though the effect of thick faces is
not considered.
In much the same style, the authors
dispose of framework instability, again
with many interesting and curious
examples. There are perhaps two ways of
dealing with this topic In the 'traditional'
approach, judgement and structural intuition are called upon to provide short cuts
and simple rules that minimize the need for
computation. Wood and Home were
perhaps the chief exponents of this. In
some cases this has produced elegant and
simple
approximate
methods
for
calculating critical loads. On the other
hand, the would-be practitioner of this
approach has to spend much time in
arduous apprenticeship before the requisite
understanding and appreciation of structural behaviour can be acquired. The other
way of dealing with the buckling of
frameworks is the straightforward technique of number-crunchingon the computer
Generations of technical papers on
methods for the analysis of frameworks
(linear and nonlinear) have long since
become systematized in a handful of
techniques which, once enshrined in a
computer package, will provide all that
most engineers will want to know, at the
press of a button. Our authors begin with
a generous nod in the direction of the traditional approach through the use of stiffness
and carry-over factors before going on to
matrix methods, postcritical behaviour and

Eng Struct. 1992, Vol. 14, No 5 347