Fracture and Damage Mechanics for Structural Engineering of Frames : State-of-the-art Industrial Applications

The certification of the structural integrity of buildings, bridges, and mechanical components is one of the main goals of engineers. For civil engineers especially, understanding the tools available for infrastructure analysis is an essential part of designing, constructing, and maintaining safe and reliable structures. Fracture and Damage Mechanics for Structural Engineering of Frames: State-of-the-Art Industrial Applications outlines the latest computational tools, models, and methodologies surrounding the analysis of wall and frame load support and resilience. Emphasizing best practices in computational simulation for civil engineering applications, this reference work is invaluable to postgraduate students, academicians, and engineers in the field.

Julio Flórez-López is a Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of Los Andes in Venezuela. He has a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Los Andes. He did his postgraduate studies at the Laboratoire de Mécanique et Technologie, Cachan, France, where he got a Doctoral degree on Applied Solid Mechanics. He has been visiting professor at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, University of Paris VI, University of São Paulo, and Kyoto University. He works on the theoretical and computational aspects of damage mechanics and its applications to civil engineering problems.

María Eugenia Marante is a Professor of Structural Engineering at Lisandro Alvarado University, Venezuela. She majored in Structural Mechanics at the University of Los Andes, Venezuela, attended Rutgers University, New Jersey, as an exchange student, and received a Doctoral degree in Applied Science from the University of Los Andes in 2004. Her research interests include modeling and simulation of the behavior of solids and structures, numerical methods in engineering, damage theory and its applications in earthquake engineering problems. Maria Eugenia Marante co-directs Structural Mechanics Laboratory (LME) at Lisandro Alvarado University, Venezuela, an environment for experimental research in the above-mentioned areas, and is involved in several research projects.

Ricardo Picón is a Professor of Structural Engineering at Lisandro Alvarado University in Venezuela. He got a Civil Engineer Degree at Experimental University of the Armed Forces, Venezuela, in 1992, a Masters degree in Structural Engineering in 2000, and the Doctoral degree in Applied Sciences in 2004 at the University of Los Andes, Venezuela. Professor Ricardo Picón was a postdoctoral scholar at Ferguson Structural Engineering Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin, in 2006. His research interests include experimental test to real scale in laboratory of reinforced concrete and steel structures. He co-directs Structural Mechanics Laboratory (LME), an experimental research institute at Lisandro Alvarado University, Venezuela.