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Title:
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Numerical Techniques for the Modeling of Failure in Solids
In honor of Prof. Kaspar J. Willam's 65th birthday 

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Organizers:
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Francisco Armero			
University of California at Berkeley	
Berkeley, CA 94720, U.S.A.		
Tel: +1-510-643-0813			
armero@ce.berkeley.edu			

Javier Oliver
Technical University of Catalonia (UPC)
08034 Barcelona, Spain
Tel: +34-93-4016490  ;  +34-93-4016497
oliver@cimne.upc.es

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Minisymposium description:
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The purpose of this symposium is to collect contributions on the numerical modeling of 
failure in solids, including from propagating cracks in brittle materials to localized 
shear bands in ductile solids. The need to resolve the discontinuous nature of these 
solutions, involving the so-called strong discontinuities, forces the consideration of 
special techniques for their numerical treatment including, in particular, the 
consideration of discontinuous interpolations in the context of the finite element method. 
Of major interest is the resolution of these solutions in a general spatial discretization 
of the underlying mechanical-structural problem. The advent of different approaches in the 
treatment of these considerations makes this symposium a perfect forum for sharing 
experiences among the developers of the different numerical techniques.

Topics of interest include:
 
 * Characterization of strong discontinuities in solids for brittle and ductile failures.
 * Finite elements with embedded discontinuities.
 * Nodally enriched finite element formulations to capture discontinuities, X-FEM, 
   partition of unity methods and others.
 * Cohesive interfacial elements.
 * Adaptive finite element methods.
 * Meshless methods for discontinuous solutions.
 * Regularization techniques.
 * Consideration of dynamic effects, dynamic fracture.
 * Localized discontinuous failures in beams and frames, plastic hinges.
 * Numerical techniques for cracks in plates and shells.
 * Consideration of coupled problems, including failure in coupled thermo-mechanical and 
   porous media.
 * Applications in bio-, micro- and nano- mechanics.