Introduction

Welcome to the Needleman-Tvergaard symposium held at the Brown University campus to celebrate the 60th birthday of Alan Needleman and Viggo Tvergaard:

 

Bridging scales in mechanics - "Where are the bottom and the top?"

 

                  

 

 

The idea behind the format of the symposium is as follows. Since Alan and Viggo have made significant contributions in the mechanics of fracture, friction, plasticity, structural instabilities, etc. in broad length and time scales, we are organizing four sessions in these areas, held over two days: (1) Fracture and Friction Problems in Solids, (2) Mechanics of Small Length Scale Mechanisms, (3) Stability Problems in Solids and Structures, and (4) Mechanics of Small Length Scale Structures.

 

The theme of the symposium is "Mechanics problems in a broad scale". In this symposium regular speakers present how their new and original progresses have been made at the leading edge of our understanding, while the panels discuss unsolved interesting problems, difficulties and current states of our understanding, i.e. visionary discussions. We would like to use this opportunity to make a cornerstone for further progress in the mechanics of solids and structures.