In today's world, reasonably predictable military operations have been replaced by low intensity conflicts-less predictable terrorist activities carried out by determined individuals or small groups that possess a wide range of backgrounds and capabilities. Because of the threats posed by this evolving type of warfare, civil engineers and emergency personnel face new challenges in designing facilities to protect lives and property and in conducting effective rescue operations and forensic investigations. Addressing these needs, Modern Protective Structures develops realistic guidelines for the analysis, design, assessment, retrofit, and research of protected facilities. After introducing a comprehensive risk management approach, the author provides a general background on explosive devices and their capabilities as well as explosive effects and the processes that generate them. He then discusses the effects of conventional and nuclear explosions. The book subsequently considers the significant design differences between conventional and nuclear loads and between existing design procedures and state-of-the-art information from recent research. It also summarizes existing blast-resistant design approaches and describes the dynamic responses of structural systems to blasts, shocks, and impacts. Additional coverage includes the behavior of specific structural connections, the traditional concept of P-I diagrams, and progressive collapse. The book concludes with a systematic and balanced protective design approach. Tackling the analytical, design, assessment, and hazard mitigation issues associated with short-duration dynamic loads, this book examines how impulsive loads affect various typesof buildings and facilities. It provides the necessary material to help ensure the safety of persons, assets, and projects.

Contains end-of-chapter examples and problem/solution sets, as well as a catalog of solutions for cylindrical and spherical shells and tables of the most commonly used plates and shells This up-to-the-minute reference/text presents the most recent principles of thin plate and shell theories-emphasizing novel analytical and numerical methods for solving linear and nonlinear plate and shell dilemmas, new theories for the design and analysis of thin plate-shell structures, and real-world numerical solutions, mechanics, and plate and shell models for engineering applications. Offers state-of-the-art computer processes for finite difference, finite element, boundary element, and boundary collocation methods, as well as other variational and numerical methods Thin Plates and Shells covers load resistance mechanisms of plate and shell structures under static, dynamic, and thermal loadings comparisons of plate and shell models with beam, arch, and truss structures classical and up-to-date plate and shell theories stress analyses for plate and shell structures buckling analysis of isotropic, orthotropic, stiffened, and sandwich plates and shells formulation of elastic stability criteria rectangular, circular, elliptical, triangular, semicircular, parallelogram, and wedge plate forms and more Containing over 2200 references, equations, tables, and drawings, Thin Plates and Shells is an indispensable reference for civil, mechanical, structural, chemical, aeronautical, aerospace, nuclear, and marine engineers; stress and design analysts; and biomechanists; and an invaluable text for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in these disciplines.