Finite Element Methods for Nonlinear Problems

This book contains a collection of papers presented at the Europe-US Symposium on Finite Element Methods for Nonlinear Problems. The symposium was held at the Norwegian Institute of Technology, Trondheim, Norway during August 12 to 16, 1985. The finite element method has during recent years gained a position as the most important discipline in computational mechanics. The basis for this method was laid out about two decades ago, and linear finite element techniques are today well established and well understood. Much work is still being done in order to make these linear methods more efficient and reliable. However, a sub- stantial part of the current research efforts in the finite element field is focused on developing the nonlinear capabilities of the method. This task is highly challenging and demanding, both from a theoretical and practical point of view. It was in this spirit that the Europe-US Symposium on Finite Element Methods for Nonlinear Problems was organized. The meeting may be seen as the continuation of the US-Germany Symposium on Finite Element Methods held in 1976 at MIT, Cambridge, USA and the Europe- US Workshop on Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis in Structural Mechanics held in 1980 at the Ruhr-Universitat, Bochum, West-Germany.