It is with great pleasure that I accepted invitation of Adnan Ibrahimbegovic to write this preface, for this invitation gave me the privilege to be one of the ?rsttoreadhisbookandallowedmetoonceagainemphasizetheimportance for our discipline of solid mechanics, which is currently under considerable development, to produce the reference books suitable for students and all other researchers and engineers who wish to advance their knowledge on the subject. Thesolidmechanicshascloselyfollowedtheprogressincomputerscienceand is currently undergoing a true revolution where the numerical modelling and simulations are playing the central role. In the industrial environment, the 'virtual' (or the computing science) is present everywhere in the design and engineering procedures. I have a habit of saying that the solid mechanics has become the science of modelling and inthat respectexpanded beyondits t- ditional frontiers. Several facets of current developments have already been treated in di?erent works published within the series 'Studies in mechanics of materials and structures'; for example, modelling heterogeneous materials (Besson et al. ), fracture mechanics (Leblond), computational strategies and namely LATIN method (Ladev` eze), instability problems (NQ Son) and ve- ?cation of ?nite element method (Ladev` eze-Pelle). To these (French) books, one should also add the work of Lemaitre-Chaboche on nonlinear behavior of solid materials and of Batoz on ?nite element method.
This volume provides insight into modelling and ultimate limit computation of complex structures, with their components represented by solid deformable bodies. The book examines practically all the important questions of current interests for nonlinear solid mechanics: plasticity, damage, large deformations, contact, dynamics, instability, localisation and failure, discrete models, multi-scale, multi-physics and parallel computing, with special attention given to finite element solution methods. The presentation of topics is structured around different aspects of typical boundary value problems in nonlinear solid mechanics, which provides the best pedagogical approach while keeping the book size reasonable despite its very broad contents. Other strong points are the exhaustive treatment of subjects, with each question studied from different angles of mechanics, mathematics and computation, as well as a successful merger of scientific cultures and heritage from Europe and the USA. The book content and style is also the product of rich international experience in teaching Master and Doctoral level courses, as well as the courses organized for participants from industry (IPSI courses) in France, and similar courses in Germany and Italy. Every effort was made to make the contents accessible to non-specialists and users of computer programs.
The original French edition published by Hermes Science - Lavoisier Paris in 2006 was nominated for the Roberval Award for University Textbooks in French.
