Designers of engineering structures must answer to ever increasing requests on performance in terms of safety, reliability, durability, low cost and low energy consumption. As new materials and new applications arise, traditional design rules and conventional testing methods become insufficient or inapplicable, which strengthens the role of computational methods in the design process. Numerical tools can accelerate the development of new products and their optimization.

The aim of the CFRAC series of conferences is to gather academic researchers and industrial partners involved in development and application of numerical procedures for fracture and failure simulation of materials and structures, to facilitate the exchange of ideas in topics of mutual interest and to serve as a platform for establishing links among research groups in Europe and worldwide.