The book is devoted to the retirement of Prof. Wilfried Becker—a liber amicorum for a well-known specialist in the field of structural mechanics. Many excellent scientists from institutions around the world wrote their scientific chapters, stressing the Becker’s influence to structural mechanics. Thus, this collection discusses a lot of important problems and applications of mechanics.

We three editors of this volume are former Ph. D. students of Professor Mircea Cohn at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Donald Grierson obtained his Ph. D. degree in 1968, Alberto Franchi in 1977, and Paolo Riva in 1988, and as such, we span almost the entire career of Professor Cohn at Waterloo. Even though we graduated during different decades in his life, we share similar views of Mircea Cohn as an educator, researcher and man. Together we recall that he was very firm in his resolve that we get the most out of the education he was facilitating for us. Together we agree that he was inspirational in his desire to have us carry out the very best research work we were capable of. Together we feel particularly fortunate to have had such a dedicated and distinguished individual as Professor Cohn as our Ph. D. research advisor. It is with great pleasure that we ack nowledge him as our mentor and friend. We began in 1989 to plan this volume as a tribute to Professor Cohn on the occasion of his 65th birthday in 1991. Upon contacting his many former students and research associates from around the world, we were not surprised to find that they too shared our feelings of respect and admiration for Mircea Cohn as an educator, researcher and man.

The Second International Conference on Structural Engineering Mechanics and Computation was held in Cape Town, South Africa in 2004. Its mission was 'To review and share the latest developments, and address the challenges that the present and the future pose'. This book contains its key findings with contributions from academics, researchers and practitioners in the broad fields of structural mechanics, associated computation and structural engineering. Their work builds a clear picture of recent achievements in the advancement of knowledge and understanding in these areas. This text therefore covers all aspects of structural mechanics and is broken down into 36 sections which communicate the latest discoveries and developments across the following areas: * vibration, dynamics, impact response, soil-structure interaction and damage mechanics * numerical modeling and computational methods * practical aspects of the analysis, design, and construction of structures - Specific classes of structures such as shells, plates, frames, bridges, buildings, lightweight structures, space structures and foundation structures * a variety of construction materials ranging from the traditional timber, masonry, concrete, steel and glass, to recent innovations encompassing high-performance composites, ceramics, high-strength concrete, fibre-reinforced concrete, stainless steel and smart alloys. The large number of high-quality papers presented and the wide spectrum of relevant topics covered, as well as the great diversity of nationalities represented by the participants, bring the reader up to speed with developments on a global scale.

The need for a comprehensive book on probabilistic structural mechanics that brings together the many analytical and computational methods developed over the years and their applications in a wide spectrum of industries-from residential buildings to nuclear power plants, from bridges to pressure vessels, from steel structures to ceramic structures-became evident from the many discussions the editor had with practising engineers, researchers and professors. Because no single individual has the expertise to write a book with such a di.verse scope, a group of 39 authors from universities, research laboratories, and industries from six countries in three continents was invited to write 30 chapters covering the various aspects of probabilistic structural mechanics. The editor and the authors believe that this handbook will serve as a reference text to practicing engineers, teachers, students and researchers. It may also be used as a textbook for graduate-level courses in probabilistic structural mechanics. The editor wishes to thank the chapter authors for their contributions. This handbook would not have been a reality without their collaboration.

This is a collection of peer-reviewed papers originally presented at the 19th Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials by academics, researchers and practitioners largely from Australasia and the Asia-Pacific region. The topics under discussion include: composite structures and materials; computational mechanics; dynamic analysis of structures; earthquake engineering; fire engineering; geomechanics and foundation engineering; mechanics of materials; reinforced and prestressed concrete structures; shock and impact loading; steel structures; structural health monitoring and damage identification; structural mechanics; and timber engineering. It is a valuable reference for academics, researchers, and civil and mechanical engineers working in structural and material engineering and mechanics.