PSI - Issue 39

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Author name / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2021) 000–000

Sabrina Vantadori et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 39 (2022) 1–2

1. Preface The 7th International Conference on Crack Paths (CP2021) was organised by the Technical Committee No.3 (TC3) of the European Structural Integrity Society and strongly supported by the Italian Group of Fracture. The CP2021 Conference should have been held at the University La Sapienza in Rome (Italy) but, due to the pandemic situation, we opted for a virtual format edition. The Conference took place from 21st to 24th September, 2021. This Conference followed the Conferences in Parma in 2003 and 2006, Vicenza in 2009, Gaeta in 2012, Ferrara in 2015 and Verona in 2018. It can be stated that it was a successful event. During the Conference, 122 research works coming from 26 different countries were presented, and 7 invited lectures were carried out in a live format by: Donato Firrao (IGF, Italy), David Taylor (Trinity College Dublin, UK), Stavros Kourkoulis (National Technical University of Athens, Greece), José Alexander Araújo (University of Brasília, Brazil), Guozheng Kang (Southwest Jiaotong University, China), Leslie Banks-Sills (Tel Aviv University, Israel), and Guian Qian (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China). The presentations were scheduled in 17 sessions, covering a wide range of topics related to crack path under both static and fatigue loading. Research works covered: experimental determination and theoretical evaluation of crack path (CP); CP of both surface and short cracks; effect of material inhomogeneities, non-proportional cyclic loading, environmental conditions on CP; CP in advanced materials; industrial application of CP concepts and data; and so on. The aim of the Conference was not only to discuss the substantial international progress achieved in the field of crack paths, but also to illustrate how to apply research results to industrial practice. The constructive and vibrant discussions taken at the end of each presentation are a further confirmation of the high scientific quality of the event as well as of the significant level of interactions among the participants. According to the CP Conference tradition, all presentations were video-recorded, and they are now available in the ESIS YouTube channel ( https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqdhWx9Ll8U7S-ih0-0imydDGSH8Q-RIq ). During the CP2021 Conference, Dr Mahsa Sakha was awarded with the TC3 Young Scientist Award for her presentation entitled “On reliable prediction of fracture path in anisotropic rocks”. This special issue of Procedia Structural Integrity collects ninety papers related to many presentations made during the CP2021 Conference. The number and the quality of the papers is an important sign of the good health of the fracture and fatigue materials / structures community. We hope to meet you soon in presence in the next “Crack Paths” Conference and TC3 activities.