Boundary value problems which have variational expressions in form of inequal ities can be divided into two main classes. The class of boundary value prob lems (BVPs) leading to variational inequalities and the class of BVPs leading to hemivariational inequalities. The first class is related to convex energy functions and has being studied over the last forty years and the second class is related to nonconvex energy functions and has a shorter research "life" beginning with the works of the second author of the present book in the year 1981. Nevertheless a variety of important results have been produced within the framework of the theory of hemivariational inequalities and their numerical treatment, both in Mathematics and in Applied Sciences, especially in Engineering. It is worth noting that inequality problems, i. e. BVPs leading to variational or to hemivariational inequalities, have within a very short time had a remarkable and precipitate development in both Pure and Applied Mathematics, as well as in Mechanics and the Engineering Sciences, largely because of the possibility of applying and further developing new and efficient mathematical methods in this field, taken generally from convex and/or nonconvex Nonsmooth Analy sis. The evolution of these areas of Mathematics has facilitated the solution of many open questions in Applied Sciences generally, and also allowed the formu lation and the definitive mathematical and numerical study of new classes of interesting problems."

The aim of the present book is the formulation, mathematical study and numerical treatment of static and dynamic problems in mechanics and engineering sciences involving nonconvex and nonsmooth energy functions, or nonmonotone and multivalued stress-strain laws. Such problems lead to a new type of variational forms, the hemivariational inequalities, which also lead to multivalued differential or integral equations. Innovative numerical methods are presented for the treament of realistic engineering problems. This book is the first to deal with variational theory of engineering problems involving nonmonotone multivalue realations, their mechanical foundation, their mathematical study (existence and certain approximation results) and the corresponding eigenvalue and optimal control problems. All the numerical applications give innovative answers to as yet unsolved or partially solved engineering problems, e.g. the adhesive contact in cracks, the delamination problem, the sawtooth stress-strain laws in composites, the shear connectors in composite beams, the semirigid connections in steel structures, the adhesive grasping in robotics, etc. The book closes with the consideration of hemivariational inequalities for fractal type geometries and with the neural network approach to the numerical treatment of hemivariational inequalities.

This collection of papers is dedicated to the memory of Gaetano Fichera, a great mathematician and also a good friend to the editors. Regrettably it took an unusual amount of time to bring this collection out. This was primarily due to the fact that the main editor who had collected all of the materials, for this volume, P. D. Panagiotopoulos, died unexpectedly during the period when we were editing the manuscript. The other two editors in appreciation of Panagiotopoulos' contribution to this field, believe it is therefore fitting that this collection be dedicated to his memory also. The theme of the collection is centered around the seminal research of G. Fichera on the Signorini problem. Variants on this idea enter in different ways. For example, by bringing in friction the problem is no longer self-adjoint and the minimization formulation is not valid. A large portion of this collection is devoted to survey papers concerning hemivariational methods, with a main point of its application to nonsmooth mechanics. Hemivariational inequali ties, which are a generalization of variational inequalities, were pioneered by Panagiotopoulos. There are many applications of this theory to the study of non convex energy functionals occurring in many branches of mechanics. An area of concentration concerns contact problems, in particular, quasistatic and dynamic contact problems with friction and damage. Nonsmooth optimization methods which may be divided into the main groups of subgradient methods and bundle methods are also discussed in this collection."

Hemivariational inequalities represent an important class of problems in nonsmooth and nonconvex mechanics. By means of them, problems with nonmonotone, possibly multivalued, constitutive laws can be formulated, mathematically analyzed and finally numerically solved. The present book gives a rigorous analysis of finite element approximation for a class of hemivariational inequalities of elliptic and parabolic type. Finite element models are described and their convergence properties are established. Discretized models are numerically treated as nonconvex and nonsmooth optimization problems. The book includes a comprehensive description of typical representants of nonsmooth optimization methods. Basic knowledge of finite element mathematics, functional and nonsmooth analysis is needed. The book is self-contained, and all necessary results from these disciplines are summarized in the introductory chapter. Audience: Engineers and applied mathematicians at universities and working in industry. Also graduate-level students in advanced nonlinear computational mechanics, mathematics of finite elements and approximation theory. Chapter 1 includes the necessary prerequisite materials.

This collection of papers is dedicated to the memory of Gaetano Fichera, a great mathematician and also a good friend to the editors. Regrettably it took an unusual amount of time to bring this collection out. This was primarily due to the fact that the main editor who had collected all of the materials, for this volume, P. D. Panagiotopoulos, died unexpectedly during the period when we were editing the manuscript. The other two editors in appreciation of Panagiotopoulos' contribution to this field, believe it is therefore fitting that this collection be dedicated to his memory also. The theme of the collection is centered around the seminal research of G. Fichera on the Signorini problem. Variants on this idea enter in different ways. For example, by bringing in friction the problem is no longer self-adjoint and the minimization formulation is not valid. A large portion of this collection is devoted to survey papers concerning hemivariational methods, with a main point of its application to nonsmooth mechanics. Hemivariational inequali ties, which are a generalization of variational inequalities, were pioneered by Panagiotopoulos. There are many applications of this theory to the study of non convex energy functionals occurring in many branches of mechanics. An area of concentration concerns contact problems, in particular, quasistatic and dynamic contact problems with friction and damage. Nonsmooth optimization methods which may be divided into the main groups of subgradient methods and bundle methods are also discussed in this collection."

Hemivariational inequalities represent an important class of problems in nonsmooth and nonconvex mechanics. By means of them, problems with nonmonotone, possibly multivalued, constitutive laws can be formulated, mathematically analyzed and finally numerically solved. The present book gives a rigorous analysis of finite element approximation for a class of hemivariational inequalities of elliptic and parabolic type. Finite element models are described and their convergence properties are established. Discretized models are numerically treated as nonconvex and nonsmooth optimization problems. The book includes a comprehensive description of typical representants of nonsmooth optimization methods. Basic knowledge of finite element mathematics, functional and nonsmooth analysis is needed. The book is self-contained, and all necessary results from these disciplines are summarized in the introductory chapter. Audience: Engineers and applied mathematicians at universities and working in industry. Also graduate-level students in advanced nonlinear computational mechanics, mathematics of finite elements and approximation theory. Chapter 1 includes the necessary prerequisite materials.

Boundary value problems which have variational expressions in form of inequal ities can be divided into two main classes. The class of boundary value prob lems (BVPs) leading to variational inequalities and the class of BVPs leading to hemivariational inequalities. The first class is related to convex energy functions and has being studied over the last forty years and the second class is related to nonconvex energy functions and has a shorter research "life" beginning with the works of the second author of the present book in the year 1981. Nevertheless a variety of important results have been produced within the framework of the theory of hemivariational inequalities and their numerical treatment, both in Mathematics and in Applied Sciences, especially in Engineering. It is worth noting that inequality problems, i. e. BVPs leading to variational or to hemivariational inequalities, have within a very short time had a remarkable and precipitate development in both Pure and Applied Mathematics, as well as in Mechanics and the Engineering Sciences, largely because of the possibility of applying and further developing new and efficient mathematical methods in this field, taken generally from convex and/or nonconvex Nonsmooth Analy sis. The evolution of these areas of Mathematics has facilitated the solution of many open questions in Applied Sciences generally, and also allowed the formu lation and the definitive mathematical and numerical study of new classes of interesting problems."