Experimental solid mechanics is the study of materials to determine their physical properties. This study might include performing a stress analysis or measuring the extent of displacement, shape, strain and stress which a material suffers under controlled conditions. In the last few years there have been remarkable developments in experimental techniques that measure shape, displacement and strains and these sorts of experiments are increasingly conducted using computational techniques. Experimental Mechanics of Solids is a comprehensive introduction to the topics, technologies and methods of experimental mechanics of solids. It begins by establishing the fundamentals of continuum mechanics, explaining key areas such as the equations used, stresses and strains, and two and three dimensional problems. Having laid down the foundations of the topic, the book then moves on to look at specific techniques and technologies with emphasis on the most recent developments such as optics and image processing. Most of the current computational methods, as well as practical ones, are included to ensure that the book provides information essential to the reader in practical or research applications. Key features: Presents widely used and accepted methodologies that are based on research and development work of the lead author Systematically works through the topics and theories of experimental mechanics including detailed treatments of the Moire, Speckle and holographic optical methods Includes illustrations and diagrams to illuminate the topic clearly for the reader Provides a comprehensive introduction to the topic, and also acts as a quick reference guide This comprehensive book forms an invaluable resource for graduate students and is also a point of reference for researchers and practitioners in structural and materials engineering.

I express my sincere gratitude to NATO Science Committee for granting me the financial award to organize and direct the Advanced Research Workshop on "MULTILAYERED and FIBRE-REINFORCED COMPOSITES: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS" that was held in Kiev, Ukraine, during the period of June 2 - 6, 1997, in collaboration with Professor S. A. Firstov of the Frantsevich Institute for Problems of Materials Science, National Academy of Sciences, Kiev, Ukraine. In this context I wish to convey special thanks to Dr. J. A. Raussell-Colom, NATO Programme Director for Priority Area on High Technology, for his kind efforts and continuous guidance in the course of organizing the Workshop. I appreciate sincerely the opportunity of working closely with Professor Firstov and acknowledge with deep gratitude his outstanding contribution in co-directing the Workshop. I wish to express my special thanks to Dr. N. Orlovskaya of the Frantsevich Institute, for her outstanding contribution towards both the organization and conduct of the Workshop. I wish to convey my sincere thanks to Professor V. V. Skorohord, Deputy Director of the Frantsevich Institute, on behalf of the same Institute, for hosting the Workshop and welcoming the participants to l{iev. The very kind efforts of the members of the Scientific Advisory Committee, the Local Organizing Committee and the Staff of the Frantsevich Institute towards the organization and conduct of the Workshop, are gratefully appreciated. I convey my full indebtedness to all researchers who participated in the Workshop.

This monograph consists of two volumes and provides a unified, comprehensive presentation of the important topics pertaining to the understanding and determination of the mechanical behaviour of engineering materials under different regimes of loading. The large subject area is separated into eighteen chapters and four appendices, all self-contained, which give a complete picture and allow a thorough understanding of the current status and future direction of individual topics. Volume I contains eight chapters and three appendices, and concerns itself with the basic concepts pertaining to the entire monograph, together with the response behaviour of engineering materials under static and quasi-static loading. Thus, Volume I is dedicated to the introduction, the basic concepts and principles of the mechanical response of engineering materials, together with the relevant analysis of elastic, elastic-plastic, and viscoelastic behaviour. Volume II consists of ten chapters and one appendix, and concerns itself with the mechanical behaviour of various classes of materials under dynamic loading, together with the effects of local and microstructural phenomena on the response behaviour of the material. Volume II also contains selected topics concerning intelligent material systems, and pattern recognition and classification methodology for the characterization of material response states. The monograph contains a large number of illustrations, numerical examples and solved problems. The majority of chapters also contain a large number of review problems to challenge the reader. The monograph can be used as a textbook in science and engineering, for third and fourth undergraduate levels, as well as for the graduate levels. It is also a definitive reference work for scientists and engineers involved in the production, processing and applications of engineering materials, as well as for other professionals who are involved in the engineering design process.

The desire to understand the mechanics of elastic and plastic solids, new materials and the stability, reliability and dynamic behaviour of structures and their components under extreme environmental conditions has dominated research in structural engineering for many decades. Advances in these areas have revolutionized design methods, codes of practice, and the teaching of structural engineers. In this volume an international body of leading authorities presents some forty papers on current research directions in the specific areas of solid mechanics, structural computation, modern materials and their application, buckling and instability, design of structural systems and components, reliability, seismic analysis, and engineering education. They were presented at a symposium held July 10-12, 1994, at the University of Waterloo, Canada, to honour Professor Archibald Norbert Sherbourne who recently retired from a long and active career of teaching, research and academic administration at this University. The themes of the work contained within this volume reflect Professor Sherbourne's own research interests and will be of interest to both academics and practicing structural engineers.

It is true that "Nothing is more practical than theory" as Boltzmann said. Provided - however - that the assumptions on which The theory is founded are well understood. But. indeed. engineering costly experience shows that "Nothing can be more disastrous than a theory" when applied To a real task outside of practical limits of the assumptions made. Because of an homonymous identity with the considered problem. J.T.P The growing interest in Isodyne Stress Analysis and the related experience of the author show that the major monograph and reference book on the subject, Isodyne Stress Analysis by Jerzy T. Pindera and Marek-Jerzy Pindera, [27], does not of contain sufficiently detailed data on the theories and techniques experimentation. The purpose of this work is to close this gap. Thus, this work is an extension of Isodyne Stress Analysis and complementary to it. Consequently, only a short outline of the theory ofisodynes is given in Chapter 2. Only the basic concepts and relations are presented to provide the link between the underlying analytical and optical theories and the experimental techniques. One of the major purposes of a preface is to formulate and explain the chosen frame of reference in a condensed form, even when some components of it are discussed in the text. A main issue of the underlying frame of reference pertains to the roles of the abstract thinking and of the observation in cognition of reality.