Issue 29

Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 29 (2014); International Journal of the Italian Group of Fracture VII Computational Mechanics and Mechanics of Materials in Italy he special issue of Fracture and Structural Integrity is dedicated to the novelties in fields of Computational Mechanics and on the Mechanics of Materials in Italy, as the invited authors are very active Italian researchers. The works in the special issue cover a wide range of topics ranging from Mechanics, Micromechanics, Homogenization, Fracture Mechanics, Finite Element Method, Boundary Method, Structural Dynamics, Nonlinear Mechanics, Constitutive Modeling. The common aim is to propose innovative theoretical, numerical and experimental approaches in order to study mechanical problems inherent to the Computational Mechanics and Mechanics of Materials. In this framework, several models and interesting applications are proposed in order to simulate processes and materials in the engineering and industrial fields. The set of the whole paper presented in this special issue can be grouped in the following macro-topics: - derivation of the response of innovative heterogeneous materials adopting homogenization techniques; - analysis of enhanced continua; - experimental investigation and development of constitutive laws for shape memory alloys; - derivation and implementation of new algorithms for time integration of nonlinear evolutive constitutive equations; - modeling and analysis of masonry structure in static as well as in dynamic framework; - new modeling approaches and analysis of composite laminates; - development of interface models for the analysis of adhesion and detachment problems; - identification methods for the detection of damage and fracture in structural element; - numerical techniques for the simulation of fluid-structure interaction; - studies concerning the topology optimization; - simulation of the behavior of prosthesis in biomechanics. Finally, the papers published in this special issue represent a non-exhaustive overview of the state-of-art in Italy in Mechanics of Materials and Computational Mechanics, which are two aspect of the same problem of solving engineering problems concerning the development of new analytical, numerical and experimental procedures for the analysis of existing structural systems or of new innovative devices. Sonia Marfia & Elio Sacco Università di Cassino e del Lazio Meridionale (Guest Editors) T