Similitude theory allows engineers, through a set of tools known as similitude methods, to establish the necessary conditions to design a scaled (up or down) model of a full-scale prototype structure. In recent years, to overcome the obstacles associated with full-scale testing, such as cost and setup, research on similitude methods has grown and their application has expanded into many branches of engineering. The aim of this paper is to provide as comprehensive a review as possible about similitude methods applied to structural engineering and their limitations due to size effects, rate sensitivity phenomena, etc. After a brief historical introduction and a more in-depth analysis of the main methods, the paper focuses on similitude applications classified, first, by test article, then by engineering fields.

This paper reviews the most significant works in literature about the acoustic behaviour of sandwich panels, starting from the first examples of multi-layered structures, comprising a series of different layers enclosing an air-gap, to the actual configurations in which the opportunities of emerging manufacturing technologies are considered in the design stages. The focus is on presenting an exhaustive list of dedicated and validated models, which are able to predict the sound transmission through sandwich panels according to their specific configuration. Some experimental works, aimed to the model correlations, are reviewed, too.

In this paper a vibration-based approach to identify a crack in a wind turbine blade is described and demonstrated numerically and experimentally. Operational modal analysis has been performed before and after a buckling test, and vibration data, gathered from some accelerometers placed along the blade, was used to monitor the integrity of the structure, since the modal parameters are directly influenced by the physical properties of the structures. Additionally a numerical prediction has been done both with a full-scale model and with a one-dimensional model. The results show that this approach is able to estimate successfully the presence of damage and a good numerical and experimental correlation has been found. Finally, some considerations regarding the rotation of the blade in the undamaged and damaged cases have been done.