Preface to the First Edition

Impact events occur in a wide variety of circumstances, from the everyday occurrence of striking a nail with a hammer to the protection of spacecraft against meteoroid impact. All too frequently, we see the results of impact on our roads. Newspapers and television report spectacular accidents which often involve impact loadings, such as the collisions of aircraft, buses, trains and ships, together with the results of impact or blast loadings on pressure vessels and buildings due to accidental explosions and other accidents. The general public is becoming increasingly concerned about safety, including, for example, the integrity of nuclear transportation casks in various accident scenarios involving impact loads.

Clearly, impact is a large field which embraces both simple structures (e.g., nails) and complex systems, such as the protection of nuclear power plants. The materials which are impacted include bricks, concrete, ductile and brittle metals, and polymer composites. Moreover, on the one hand, the impact velocities may be low and give rise to a quasi-static response, or, on the other hand, they may be sufficiently large to cause the properties of the target material to change significantly.