Proceeding of the 17th National Conference of Italian Group of Fracture

Bologna, seat of the first and prestigious university in the western world due to the presence of numerous renowned personalities such as Luigi Galvani, Augusto Righi and Francesco Petrarca, holds for the first time the national congress of the Italian Group of Fracture. The topics of the meeting concern the most recent scientific breakthroughs in the study of fracture and its implications: the historical development, the harmonisation of the laws and of the standards for the determination of fundamental parameters, the experiences deriving from the collaborations with industries and, finally, the didactic and educational experiences related to the concept of fracture. As usual, the congress carries on the debate and confrontation about a historically founded problem, on which institutions, facilities, conventions, standards have been developing, but which still poses questions, research and innovation instances. The proceedings of this 17th National Congress of the Italian Group of Fracture assume a meaning that overcomes the simple aspect of the collection of memories, dedicated to the cultural moment the congress itself represents. They will have indeed a worldwide diffusion, through the distribution to all the participants to the 11th International Conference on Fracture, which will take place in Turin, on 20th – 25th March 2005, co-organized by this Association. counting These proceedings certainly do not want to represent all the work the Italian scientific community is achieving on the topic of fracture, but only an impression. It puts in evidence the work, of undoubted quality, that is being carried on by the Members of this association, which represents in Italy the similar European association ESIS and the international ICF. The congress, organized in collaboration by the University of Bologna and the Materials and New Technologies Unit of ENEA at Faenza Research Centre, took place in the 'Villa Gandolfi Pallavicini'. The villa, surrounded by a park and lying east to Bologna, was built in 17th century by a noble family from Bologna and among its famous guests, it can include the 14-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Nowadays it is the location of the Institute of Advanced Studies of the local university, an institution that contributed to the perfect success of the event. Our hope is that the edition at Bologna may represent a spur so that the Italian Group of Fracture will carry on its important and profitable accomplishments, as it has been so far. We are sincerely grateful to the authors of the works collected in this volume, which are the premise for our wish to come true. Last but not least, special thanks to professor Alessandro Freddi, Director of the Institute of Advanced Studies of the University of Bologna, and to professors G. C. Sih and E. E. Gdoutos, authors of the invited lectures. Angelo Finelli Lucio Nobile ENEA - C.R. Faenza University of Bologna