Nowadays, numerical computation has become one of the most vigorous tools for scientists, researchers and professional engineers, following the enormous progress made during the last decades in computing technology, in terms of both computer hardware and software development. Although this has led to tremendous achievements in computer-based structural engineering, the increasing necessity of solving complex problems in engineering requires the development of new ideas and innovative methods for providing accurate numerical solutions in affordable computing times. This collection aims at providing a forum for the presentation and discussion of state-of-the-art innovative developments, concepts, methodologies and approaches in scientific computation applied to structural engineering. It involves a wide coverage of timely issues on computational structural engineering with a broad range of both research and advanced practical applications. This Research Topic encompasses, but is not restricted to, the following scientific areas: modeling in structural engineering; finite element methods; boundary element methods; static and dynamic analysis of structures; structural stability; structural mechanics; meshless methods; smart structures and systems; fire engineering; blast engineering; structural reliability; structural health monitoring and control; optimization; and composite materials, with application to engineering structures.

Insights and Innovations in Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Computation comprises 360 papers that were presented at the Sixth International Conference on Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Computation (SEMC 2016, Cape Town, South Africa, 5-7 September 2016). The papers reflect the broad scope of the SEMC conferences, and cover a wide range of engineering structures (buildings, bridges, towers, roofs, foundations, offshore structures, tunnels, dams, vessels, vehicles and machinery) and engineering materials (steel, aluminium, concrete, masonry, timber, glass, polymers, composites, laminates, smart materials).

Following the great progress made in computing technology, both in computer and programming technology, computation has become one of the most powerful tools for researchers and practicing engineers. It has led to tremendous achievements in computer-based structural engineering and there is evidence that current devel- ments will even accelerate in the near future. To acknowledge this trend, Tongji University, Vienna University of Technology, and Chinese Academy of Engine- ing, co-organized the International Symposium on Computational Structural En- neering 2009 in Shanghai (CSE’09). CSE’09 aimed at providing a forum for presentation and discussion of sta- of-the-art development in scientific computing applied to engineering sciences. Emphasis was given to basic methodologies, scientific development and engine- ing applications. Therefore, it became a central academic activity of the Inter- tional Association for Computational Mechanics (IACM), the European Com- nity on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences (ECCOMAS), The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanic, the China Civil Engineering So- ety, and the Architectural Society of China. A total of 10 invited papers, and around 140 contributed papers were p- sented in the proceedings of the symposium. Contributors of papers came from 20 countries around the world and covered a wide spectrum related to the compu- tional structural engineering.

The increasing necessity to solve complex problems in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering requires the development of new ideas, innovative methods and numerical tools for providing accurate numerical solutions in affordable computing times. This book presents the latest scientific developments in Computational Dynamics, Stochastic Dynam

This book treats computational modeling of structures in which strong nonlinearities are present. It is therefore a work in mechanics and engineering, although the discussion centers on methods that are considered parts of applied mathematics. The task is to simulate numerically the behavior of a structure under various imposed excitations, forces, and displacements, and then to determine the resulting damage to the structure, and ultimately to optimize it so as to minimize the damage, subject to various constraints. The method used is iterative: at each stage an approximation to the displacements, strains, and stresses throughout the structure is computated and over all times in the interval of interest. This method leads to a general approach for understanding structural models and the necessary approximations.

High-performance multiprocessor computers provide new and interesting opportunities to solve large-scale structural engineering problems. However, the development of new computational models and algorithms that exploit the unique architecture of these machines remains a challenge. High Performance Computing in Structural Engineering explores the use of supercomputers with vectorization and parallel processing capabilities in structural engineering applications. The book focuses on the optimization of large structures subjected to the complicated, implicit, and discontinuous constraints of commonly used design codes and presents robust parallel-algorithms for analysis of these structures. The authors apply the algorithms to and analyze the performance of minimum weight designs of large, steel space trusses and moment-resisting frames, with or without bracings, consisting of discrete standard shapes. They clearly show that adroit and judicious use of vectorization techniques can improved the speedup of an optimization algorithm, and that parallel processing can lead to even further speedup. With its review of the necessary background material, generous illustrations, and unique content, this is the definitive resource for the analysis and optimization of structure on shared-memory multiprocessor computers. By extension, High Performance Computing in Structural Engineering will prove equally valuable in distributed computing on a cluster of workstations