Processes taking place in the contact of two bodies and having an influence on strength and service life of machinery or of the whole structure have been in the interest of physicists and engineers for a very long time. The first scientific base had been created by H. Hertz (see Hertz. H.: tJber die Berührung. fester elastischer Körper. J. reine und angewandte Mathematik. 1882. 92. pp. 156-171 ) more than one hundred years ago. Since that time (proportionally to the need of industry) countless numbers of other studies have originated, But practice always has been an inspiration for the solution being more general and profound. At the beginning only the problem of the contact of two solid elastic bodies was solved. It was followed with the problems of local load by forces on an elastic half-plane and half-space (see Boussinesq. J.: Application des potentials. d l 'etude de l 'equiZibre et du mouvement des solides elastiques. Paris 1885). The integration then has enlarged the point contact into a surface one so as to correspond to geometry, rigidi ty or physical properties of material in the place of contact. At present days even the effect of different frictions, origin and propagation of cracks are being solved. Not only mathematics and computers but even modern experimental methods are involved in the solution of problems.

Inhalt
Localized buckling of elastic shells in the light of modern nonlinear dynamics.- Contact force distribution between thin-walled tubes and saddle supports.- Splitting of three-dimensional solution into local and global effects.- Plastic squeeze of circular shell due to saddle or lug.- On the contact of cylindrical shells with an elastic or rigid foundation.- Effect of local loads on the stability of shells subjected to uniform pressure distribution.- A study of buckling in column-supported cylinders.- The support of cylindrical vessels on rigid and flexible saddles an improved analysis.- Expert like system for cylindrical shell support.- Load carrying capacity of shells with regard to cumulation of damages.- Effects of fibre orientations on failure modes of composite shells subjected to unilateral constraints.- Contact problem in the theory of anisotropic cylindrical shells.- Modelling and experimental investigation of plastic resistance and local buckling of H or I steel sections submitted to concentrated or partially distributed loading.- Non-stiffened steel webs with flanges under patch loading.- Buckling analysis of trapezoidally corrugated web under patch loading using spline finite strip method.- Behavior of webs under eccentric compressive edge loads.- Local buckling of steel bridge girder webs during launching.- Elastic and plastic states of metallic structures under bending with allowance for local stresses.- Ultimate load behaviour of longitudinally stiffened steel webs subject to partial edge loading.- Breathing of longitudinally stiffened steel webs subject to repeated partial edge loading.- Buckling of thin-walled beams under concentrated transverse loading.- Tests of buckling of panels subjected to in-plane patch loading.- Behaviour of stiffenedweb plates subjected to the patch load.- Parametric study on plate girders subjected to patch loading.- Load-introduction resistance of column webs in strong axis beam-to-column joints.- Behaviour of thin-walled cold-formed wide profiles under concentrated loading.- A finite element formulation for the analysis of local effects.- Early prague tests on welded plate girder webs under partial edge loadings.- Comments on constructions of empirical formulas.- Models of thin-walled beam connections.- On stability of crushed columns under non-conservative contact loading.- Interaction of structures.- The influence of edge effects on the stress concentration around a hole in a thin spherical shell.- Local effects in thin-walled beams subject to bending and shear.- The nonlocal theory of thermoelastic plates and surface problems.- Cylindrical shells under dynamic axial impact.- Stability of double-steel beams elements beyond the elasticity limit.- Local buckling effects on the supports of continuous trapezoidal profiled steel sheets.- Nonstationary vibrations of rectangular plate excited by concentrated force with linearly variable frequency.- Generalized nonlinear theory of shells and plates applicable for contact loads problems.- Influence of the weld size on the strength of rectangular hollow section joints.- Vibrations of composite plate containing circle delamination on boundary of layers.