Textbooks about mechanical vibration are theoretical, highly algebraic, ponderous in jargon, and demanding of rectilinear and angular coordinate systems and free-body diagrams of springs, pulleys, bars, beams, lever arms, pendulums, and wires. The subject cries out for numerous equations and pictures, both of which artifacts this treatment will attempt to avoid.
Mechanical vibration is a ubiquitous by-product of motion, of the dynamics of solid and semi-solid things subjected to forces(s), ranging from earthquakes, to rocket propulsion, to finger-drumming on a kitchen table. Engineers and physicists study vibration in detail primarily to forestall the dangerous and destructive effects of unintended motions within engines and machines. Bioengineers and physicians have adapted the principles to study and prevent vibratory impacts to bones and tissues as a result of mechanical impacts or repeated applications of forces to parts of the human body -- most particularly to healing parts, such as resolving broken bones.
While textbook writers tend to characterize vibration as a negative, unwanted consequence of operating any mechanism with moving parts, there are some machines or machine parts -- such as shock absorbers, fly-fishing tackle, graphite golf-club shafts, and soil-sieve testing apparatuses -- whose vibratory qualities are desirable, sought, optimized, even maximized through design.
Of the treatments of the subject reviewed here, Steidel's -- though somewhat dated -- is the most informative and the most provocative. The Schaum's Outline series precis on the subject, by Seto , is the most terse but most direct application of the principles to specific problems; although its theoretical developments are sketchy, omissive of many logical steps, and naive in their explication. The book by Timoshenko is sixty years old, but it is worth noting that this writer is a "pioneer" in the field and a "great engineering teacher," ...