As Directors of this NATO Workshop, we welcome this opportunity to record formally our thanks to the NATO Scientific Affairs Division for making our meeting possible through generous financial support and encouragement. This meeting has two purposes: the first obvious one because we have collected scientists from East, far East and west to discuss new development in the field of fracture mechanics: the notch fracture mechanics. The second is less obvious but perhaps in longer term more important that is the building of bridges between scientists in the frame of a network called Without Walls...

The 1980s and 1990s have seen a growing interest in research and practice in the use of methodologies within problem contexts characterised by a primary focus on technology, human issues, or power. During the last five to ten years, this has given rise to challenges regarding the ability of a single methodology to address all such contexts, and the consequent development of approaches which aim to mix methodologies within a single problem situation. This has been particularly so where the situation has called for a mix of technological (the so-called 'hard') and human centred (so-called...

This survey of the physical aspects of fracture shows that the old barriers between different scales will soon themselves fracture. The volume includes papers on most materials of practical interest from concrete to ceramics.