Some developments of computational solid mechanics in China

Abstract Solid mechanics is an old discipline of applied science and its development is very much influenced by the advances of technology as is the case of many other disciplines of science. The advent of electronic computers led to an advance for mechanics, activated many branches of mechanics, and enabled theoretical studies and applications to have a rapid development in both depth and scope. Traditionally, solid mechanics is divided into several branches, for example structural mechanics, theory of elasticity, plasticity, plates and shells, geomechanics, etc., which are now well incorporated in the curricula of engineering colleges and institutes. In fact, the basic concepts were derived from the same source. Once the computational barrier is removed, some naturally developed unified approaches can be applied to all those branches, such as the finite element method (FEM) and other numerical methods. With the help of computers, computational structural mechanics has developed a far wider scope than in the past. It no longer limits itself to the study of elastic framed structures or trusses, now covering plates and shells, three dimensional continuum, and other complicated composed structural systems such as coupled structure-soil or structure-fluid systems. The loading conditions are no longer limited within the elastic range but can be extended to plastic, fracture or failure ranges. More importantly, computational structural mechanics not only analyses a given structure in a passive way, but also provides the possibility of finding its optimum design in an active way. The advances of CAD technique further extend the area of computational solid mechanics and the engineers may be provided with final drawings.