The general objective of the Tenth Canadian Fracture Conference was to respond to progress in the engineering sciences - in particular with r- pect to rapidly developing new trends in the theory and methodology of researcr and designing - and to the resulting needs of practical engineering in the specific field of fracture mechanics and related areas of engineering mechanics. The basic underlying issue is the theory and practice of physical analytical and iconic (reduced) modelling of the actually involved physical processes and of the responses of physical bodies and systems to actual energy...