From the characterization of materials to accelerated life testing, experimentation with solids and structures is present in all stages of the design of mechanical devices. Sometimes only an experimental model can bring the necessary elements for understanding, the physics under study just being too complex for an efficient numerical model.

This book presents the classical tools in the experimental approach to mechanical engineering, as well as the methods that have revolutionized the field over the past 20 years: photomechanics, signal processing, statistical data analysis, design...