A Multi-Scale Continuum Theory for Heterogeneous Materials --
Towards a Model for Large Strain Anisotropic Elasto-Plasticity --
Localized and Diffuse Bifurcations in Porous Rocks Undergoing Shear Localization and Cataclastic Flow --
Dispersion and Localisation in a Strain-Softening Two-Phase Medium --
New Developments in Surface-to-Surface Discretization Strategies for Analysis of Interface Mechanics --
Particle Finite Element Methods in Solid Mechanics Problems --
Micro-Meso-Macro Modelling of Composite Materials --
Numerical Modeling of Transient Impact Processes with Large Deformations and Nonlinear Material Behavior --
A Computational Model For Viscoplasticity Coupled with Damage Including Unilateral Effects --
On Multiscale Analysis of Heterogeneous Composite Materials: Implementation of Micro-to-Macro Transitions in the Finite Element Setting --
Assessment of Protection Systems for Gravel-Buried Pipelines Considering Impact and Recurrent Shear Loading Caused by Thermal Deformations of the Pipe --
Enriched Free Mesh Method: An Accuracy Improvement for Node-based FEM --
Modelling of Metal Forming Processes and Multi-Physic Coupling --
Enhanced Rotation-Free Basic Shell Triangle. Applications to Sheet Metal Forming.

Despite the apparent activity in the field, the ever increasing rate of development of new engineering materials required to meet advanced technological needs poses fresh challenges in the field of constitutive modelling. The complex behaviour of such materials demands a closer interaction between numerical analysts and material scientists in order to produce thermodynamically consistent models which provide a response in keeping with fundamental micromechanical principles and experimental observations. This necessity for collaboration is further highlighted by the continuing remarkable developments in computer hardware which makes the numerical simulation of complex deformation responses increasingly possible. This book contains 14 invited contributions written by distinguished authors who participated in the VIII International Conference on Computational Plasticity held at CIMNE/UPC (www.cimne.com) from 5-8 September 2005, Barcelona, Spain. The meeting was one of the Thematic Conferences of the European Community on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences (ECCOMAS, www.eccomas.org). The different chapters of this book present recent progress and future research directions in the field of computational plasticity. A common line of many contributions is that a stronger interaction between the phenomenological and micromechanical modelling of plasticity behaviour is apparent and the use of inverse identification techniques is also more prominent. The development of adaptive strategies for plasticity problems continues to be a challenging goal, while it is interesting to note the permanence of element modelling as a research issue. Industrial forming processes, geomechanics, steel and concrete structures form the core of the applications of the different numerical methods presented in the book