Preface to the special issue on “Mechanics of Fibre-Reinforced Materials: Theory and Applications, Part II”

Abstract

This special edition of the Journal of Engineering Mathematics (J Eng Math) is a continuation of the ongoing effort to promote quality research in the subject of theMechanics of Fibre-reinforcedMaterials (FRMs) on an international scale. This effort started with a special issue of this journal on the subject, published in 2010 and edited by two of the present co-guest editors [1], and continued more recently with the organization of the 551st Colloquium of the European Mechanics Society (Euromech 551, 2–5 September, 2013, University of Nottingham), which was co-chaired by all three editors of the present volume. The title of the Euromech Colloquium 551 was identical to that of [1]. The present volume comprises nineteen research papers that were presented in the Colloquium, and an additional paper (Paetsch and Dorfmann) invited by virtue of the contribution that one of its co-authors had published previously in [1]. All twenty papers were submitted to J Eng Math after the end of the Euromech 551 and passed successfully through the standard peer review process of this journal. The present special issue is thus a natural continuation of the earlier edition [1]. The preface of [1] outlined briefly the history of the nonlinear theory of FRMs and acknowledged the profound role that a group of Nottingham University mathematicians, led for long time by A. J. M. Spencer, played in its development. It described qualitatively each of the seven publications contained in [1] and highlighted research trends which were expected to influence the subject of the Mechanics of Fibre-reinforced Materials in the long term. Those trends remain highly relevant and need not be repeated in the present volume, the size of which is almost three times the size of its predecessor. Such a successful continuation of [1] makes it impractical to give a detailed description of the twenty high-quality papers contained in the present issue, but some general observations and research trends are now highlighted.