This book consists of a collection of lectures prepared for a short course on "Fracture Mechanics Methodology" sponsored by the Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD), part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The course was organized jointly by Professor George C. Sih of the Institute of Fracture and Solid Mechanics at Lehigh University in the United States and Professor Luciano Faria from Centro de Mecanica e de Materiais das Universidade de Lisboa in Portugal. It was held in Lisbon from June 1 to 4, 1981. Dr. Robert Badaliance from the McDonnell Aircraft...

The impact of CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) on the competitiveness of industry is nowadays well acknowledged. Significant increases in productivity, reduction of production costs and the ability to modify operations quickly are amongst the gains made when applying CIM technologies. The integration of automation islands and the application of information technology throughout manufacturing and engineering environments constitute key tasks for European industry. ESPRIT (European Strategic Programme for Research and Development in Information Technology) is a pre-competitive...