2nd International Conference on Mechanics of Composites (MECHCOMP2)

Composite materials have aroused a great interest over the last few decades, as proven by the huge number of scientific papers and industrial progress. Nowadays, it is quite easy to see various applications of fibrous composites, functionally graded materials, laminated composite, nano-structured reinforcement, morphing composites, in many engineering fields, such as aerospace, mechanical, naval and civil engineering. The need of more and more lightweight structures, smart and adaptive systems, high-level strength, free-form shapes, has led both the academic research and the manufacturing development to a recurring employment of these materials. If the technological progress has allowed to design composite structures, the scientific research has provided those tools necessary to understand and model their mechanical behavior in an efficient manner. Therefore, more and more interest is given by several scientists to a better understanding of this class of materials. In fact, a lot of journal papers and technical notes have been published extensively over the last seventy years in international scientific journals of different engineering fields. For this reason, the establishment of this second edition of Mechanics of Composites International Conference has appeared appropriate to continue what has been begun during the first edition occurred in 2014 at Stony Brook University (USA). MECHCOMP wants to be an occasion for many researchers from each part of the globe to meet and discuss about the recent advancements regarding the use of composite structures, sandwich panels, nanotechnology, bio-composites, delamination and fracture, experimental methods, manufacturing and other countless topics that have filled many sessions during this conference. As a proof of this event, which has taken place in Porto (Portugal), selected plenary and key-note lectures have been collected in the present book. The conference attracted 200+ delegates from around the world of composites. The plenary lectures were given by Silvestre Pinho (Imperial College of London, United Kingdom), Dirk Vandepitte (K. U. Leuven, Belgium), Volnei Tita (University of Sao Paulo, Brazil), Rui Miranda Guedes (University of Porto, Portugal), Zheng-Ming Huang (Tongji University, China), and Elmarakbi, Ahmed (University of Sunderland, United Kingdom). The Conference Chairs: Ana Neves, Antonio Ferreira (University of Porto, Portugal), Erasmo Viola, Francesco Tornabene, Nicholas Fantuzzi (University of Bologna, Italy).