This volume features 29 invited papers presented at the Royal Society of Edinburgh on 1-2 July 2008 by colleagues, collaborators, students and friends of Professor J. Michael Rotter (FREng, FRSE, FICE, FASCE, FIStructE, FIEAust) in honour of his 60th birthday.

The articles published in this volume will be of great value to readers as it contains contributions from the world s leading experts in their fields. These fields include failure investigations, structural design of buildings, collapse and buckling of shells, structural design of silos, residual stresses in aluminium sheets due to welding, fundamental aspects of granular solids as well as flow and pressures in silos, novel models for concrete behaviour and strengthening structures using advanced fibre reinforced polymer composites. The topics involve static conditions, vibration, seismic responses and behaviour of structures under fire. They range from fundamental research to innovations in teaching of structural mechanics.

This book will be of interest to practising engineers, researchers and postgraduate students working in the fields of structural engineering, construction materials, mining, chemical and process engineering. The application areas of this knowledge are equally wide, so it will prove to be a valuable resource to consulting companies, government departments, research and development organisations, professional bodies and construction contractors.
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This book is a specially published section of the larger work ICE Manual of Construction Materials. ICE Manual of Construction Materials is an invaluable resource for practising civil and structural engineers in consulting firms, government agencies, research institutes, universities and colleges. Its highly practical approach will guide and train readers towards achieving expertise in the use of major and emerging construction materials. The Polymers and Polymer Fibre Composite section of the two-volume manual is edited by Christopher Hall, Jian-Fei Chen and Len Hollaway.