Dietmar Gross studied Applied Mechanics and received his Engineering Diploma and Doctor of Engineering degree at the University of Rostock. He was Research Associate at the University of Stuttgart and since 1976 he is Professor of Mechanics at the Technische Universität Darmstadt. His research interests are mainly focused on modern solid mechanics including fracture processes on the macro and micro scale and the modeling of advanced materials.Thomas Seelig studied Mechanics and received his PhD at TU Darmstadt. He spent some years as a researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials in Freiburg and since 2009 is Professor of Mechanics at Karlsruhe University. His research field is solid mechanics with an emphasis on fracture and micromechanics. His work has been concerned with the numerical simulation of dynamic fracture processes and currently focuses on the deformation and failure behaviour of polymer blends and composites.

• Elements of solid mechanics.- Classical failure hypotheses.- Micro and macro phenomena of fracture.- Linear fracture mechanics.- Elastic-plastic fracture mechanics.- Creep fracture.- Dynamic fracture mechanics.- Micromechanics and homogenization.- Damage mechanics.- Probabilistic fracture mechanics.