Features the latest information on methods for predicting how composite materials and composite material structures fail. 27 peer-reviewed papers from the world's leading professionals in the field. Five key areas:

Delamination Characterization -- Eight papers explore the challenges of characterizing delamination fracture of laminated composite materials in terms of interlaminar fracture toughness.

Damage Modeling -- Developing appropriate models for predicting composite damage such as matrix cracking, fiber failure and delamination are considered in five papers.

Material Damage Characterization -- Five papers investigate how environmental exposure and mechanical loads damage composite materials.

Impact -- Methods to predict the effect of impact on laminated composite materials are explained in four papers.

Structural Damage Characterization -- Five papers describe failure or damage issues in specific structures.