Professor Ioannis Doltsinis holds the Venia Legendi at the University of Stuttgart. His current teaching assignments comprise advanced courses in Elastoplastic Structures and Stochastic Analysis and Optimization in the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, where he acts also as the Studies Advisor. He has been Deputy Director of the Institute for Computer Applications at Stuttgart University, leader of several scientific sections and research projects, Visiting Professor at the University of Trento, Scientific Advisor for numerous research foundations at national and international level. Prof Doltsinis has been working on the development of computer methods in the field of nonlinear mechanics of solids and fluids from the very beginning. He has performed and directed research with achievements in the fields of Elastoplastic Structures, Nonlinear Fracture Mechanics, Wide-span Lightweight Structures, Thermomechanics of Inelastic Solids, Material Deformation Processes, Strength of Ceramic Materials, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Re-entry Aerodynamics, Stochastic Mechanics. He is author of numerous papers published in professional journals, editor of thematic scientific publications and author of the book: Large Deformation Processes of Solids - From Fundamentals to Numerical Simulation and Engineering Applications also published by WIT Press.

• Preface to the second edition Preface to the first edition Preliminaries Introduction; Matrix notation Chapter 1: Elastoplastic material behaviour The uniaxial case; Plastic yielding under multiaxial conditions; Hardening rules; A general view on elastoplastic constitutive description; Problems Chapter 2: Elastoplastic response of structures and solids Considerations on elastoplastic structures; Elastoplastic analysis of solids; Distinct cases; Problems Chapter 3: Load-carrying capacity of perfectly plastic systems Introductory remarks; Static limit load theorem; Kinematic limit load theorem; Simple applications of the limit load theorems; Problems Chapter 4: Theory of shakedown Structures under time-variant loading; Static shakedown theorem (Melan); Kinematic shakedown theorem (Koiter); Application of shakedown theory Chapter 5: Development of finite element solution methods The systematics of the finite element method; Elastic computation procedure; Algorithms for plastic flow; Integration of inelastic stress-strain relations; Elastoplastic computation Chapter 6: Extension of inelastic description Influence of temperature; Viscoelasticity and creep; Viscoplasticity; Effects of inertia; Pressure sensitive materials Chapter 7: Application of finite element analysis Remarks on numerical solutions; Pressure vessel with nozzle; Aluminium sheet with circular hole: comparison of analysis with experiment; Heat shrink fitting of a wheel; Thermal cycling of cylindrical container; Vessel for liquid zinc; Creep behaviour of pressure vessel; Viscoplastic analysis of a thermal shock problem; Dynamic response of a beam under impact loading; Soil stresses connected with the construction and operation of a traffic tunnel