Containing papers from the 2nd High Performance Design of Structures and Materials and the Optimum Design of Structures conference, following the success of a number of meetings since 1989, this book will be of interest to those in any engineering field. The use of novel materials and new structural concepts nowadays is not restricted to highly technical areas like aerospace, aeronautical applications or the automotive industry, but affects all engineering fields including those such as civil engineering and architecture. Most high performance structures require the development of a generation of new higher performance sustainable materials, which can more easily resist a range of external stimuli or react in a non-conventional manner. Emphasis is placed on intelligent structures and materials as well as the application of computational methods for their modelling, control and management. Optimisation problems of interest involve those related to size, shape and topology of structures and materials. Optimisation techniques have much to offer to those involved in the design of new industrial products. The development of new algorithms and the appearance of powerful commercial computer codes with easy to use graphical interfaces have created a fertile field for the incorporation of optimisation into the design process in all engineering disciplines. The book addresses the topic of design optimisation with welcomed contributions on numerical methods, different optimisation techniques and new software. Several of the topics covered are: Composite materials and structures; Material characterisation; Experiments and numerical analysis; Transformable structures; Environmentally friendly and sustainable structures; Evolutionary methods in optimisation; Aerospace structures; Biomechanics application and Pneumatic structures.

Containing the edited papers presented at the Sixth International Conference on High Performance Structures and Materials, High Performance Structures and Materials VI addresses the issues involved with advanced types of structures, particularly those based on new concepts or new materials. Contributions will highlight the latest developments in design, optimisation, manufacturing and experimentation in these areas.The use of novel materials and new structural concepts nowadays is not restricted to highly technical areas like aerospace, aeronautical applications or the automotive industry, but affects all engineering fields including those such as civil engineering and architecture. Most high performance structures require the development of a generation of new materials, which can more easily resist a range of external stimuli or react in a non-conventional manner.The book will cover such topics as: Composite materials and structures, Lightweight structures, Nanocomposites, High performance concretes, Concrete fibres, Automotive composites, Steel structures, Natural fibre composites, Timber structures, Material characterisation, Experiments and numerical analysis, Damage and fracture mechanics, Computational intelligence, Adaptable and mobile structures, Environmentally friendly structures.

This book describes a number of high-performance construction materials, including concrete, steel, fiber-reinforced cement, fiber-reinforced plastics, polymeric materials, geosynthetics, masonry materials and coatings. It discusses the scientific bases for the manufacture and use of these high-performance materials. Testing and application examples are also included, in particular the application of relatively new high-performance construction materials to design practice.Most books dealing with construction materials typically address traditional materials only rather than high-performance materials and, as a consequence, do not satisfy the increasing demands of today''s society. On the other hand, books dealing with materials science are not engineering-oriented, with limited coverage of the application to engineering practice. This book is thus unique in reflecting the great advances made on high-performance construction materials in recent years.This book is appropriate for use as a textbook for courses in engineering materials, structural materials and civil engineering materials at the senior undergraduate and graduate levels. It is also suitable for use by practice engineers, including construction, materials, mechanical and civil engineers.

Including the latest developments in design, optimisation, manufacturing and experimentation, this text presents a wide range of topics relating to advanced types of structures, particularly those based on new concepts and new types of materials.

Including the latest developments in design, optimisation, manufacturing and experimentation, this text presents a wide range of topics relating to advanced types of structures, particularly those based on new concepts and new types of materials.

Sandwich structures represent a special form of a laminated composite material or structural elements, where a relatively thick, lightweight and compliant core material separates thin stiff and strong face sheets. The faces are usually made of laminated polymeric based composite materials, and typically, the core can be a honeycomb type material, a polymeric foam or balsa wood. The faces and the core are joined by adhesive bonding, which ensures the load transfer between the sandwich constituent parts. The result is a special laminate with very high bending stiffness and strength to weight ratios. Sandwich structures are being used successfully for a variety of applications such as spacecraft, aircraft, train and car structures, wind turbine blades, boat/ship superstructures, boat/ship hulls and many others. The overall objective of the 7th International Conference on Sandwich Structures (ICSS-7) is to provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of the latest research and technology on all aspects of sandwich structures and materials, spanning the entire spectrum of research to applications in all the fields listed above.

Aerospace presents an extremely challenging environment for structural materials and the development of new, or improved, materials: processes for material and for component production are the subject of continuous research activity. It is in the nature of high performance materials that the steps of material and of component production should not be considered in isolation from one another. Indeed, in some cases, the very process of material production may also incorporate part or all of the component production itself and, at the very least, will influence the choice of material/component production method to be employed. How ever, the developments currently taking place are to be discovered largely within the confines of specialist conferences or books each dedicated to perhaps a single element of the overall process. In this book contributors, experts drawn from both academia and the aerospace industry, have joined together to combine their individual knowledge to examine high performance aerospace materials in terms of their production, structure, properties and applications. The central interrelationships between the development of structure through the production route and between structure and the properties exhibited in the final component are considered. It is hoped that the book will be of interest to students of aeronautical engineering and of materials science, together with those working within the aerospace industry. Harvey M. Flower Imperial College 1 Design requirements for aerospace structural materials C. J. Peel and P. J. Gregson 1.