Fracture mechanics

In this article, after a brief description of some significant catastrophic structural failures going back to the period when iron and steel began to replace wood and masonry as the: primary structural materials, the historic al development of the field of fracture mechanics is discussed. First, the basic concepts of the field, the motivation underlying their development an d the key contributions made in the area are briefly described. A summary o f the key engineering applications of fracture mechanics, its methods. some recent important contributions and areas of future research is is then pre sented. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.