The book is characterized by the illustration of cases of fractal, self-similar and multi-scale structures taken from the mechanics of solid and porous materials, which have a technical interest. In addition, an accessible and self-consistent treatment of the mathematical technique of fractional calculus is provided, avoiding useless complications.

Inhalt

A. Carpinteri: Self-Similarity and Fractality in Microcrack Coalescence and Solid Rupture.- B. Chiaia: Experimental Determination of the Fractal Dimension of Microcrack Patterns and Fracture Surfaces.- P.D. Panagiotopoulos, O.K. Panagouli: Fractal Geometry in Contact Mechanics and Numerical Applications.- R. Lenormand: Fractals and Porous Media: from Pore to Geological Scales.- R. Gorenflo, F. Mainardi: Fractional Calculus: Integral and Differential Equations of Fractional Order.- R. Gorenflo: Fractional Calculus: some Numerical Methods.- F. Mainardi: Fractional Calculus: some Basic Problems in Continuum and Statistical Mechanics.