Preface This is a book for people who love mechanics of composite materials and MATLAB*.We will use the popular computer package MATLAB as a matrix calculator for doing the numerical calculations needed in mechanics of com- posite materials.In particular,the steps of the mechanical calculations will be emphasized in this book.The reader will not find ready-made MATLAB programs for use as black boxes.Instead step-by-step solutions of composite material mechanics problems are examined in detail using MATLAB.All the problems in the book assume linear elastic behavior in structural mechanics. The emphasis is not on mass computations or programming,but rather on learning the composite material mechanics computations and understanding of the underlying concepts. The basic aspects of the mechanics of fiber-reinforced composite materials are covered in this book.This includes lamina analysis in both the local and global coordinate systems,laminate analysis,and failure theories of a lamina. In the last two chapters of the book,we present a glimpse into two espe- cially advanced topics in this subject,namely,homogenization of composite materials,and damage mechanics of composite materials.The authors have deliberately left out the two topics of laminated plates and stability of com- posites as they feel these two topics are a little bit advanced for the scope of this book.In addition,each of these topics deserves a separate volume for its study and there are some books dedicated to these two topics.Each chapter starts with a summary of the basic equations.This is followed by the MAT- LAB functions which are specific to the chapter.Then,a number of examples is solved demonstrating both the theory and numerical computations.The examples are of two types:the first type is theoretical and involves deriva- tions and proofs of various equations,while the other type is MATLAB-based and involves using MATLAB in the calculations.A total of 44 special MAT- LAB functions for composite material mechanics are provided as M-files on the accompanying CD-ROM to be used in the examples and solution of the MATLAB is a registered trademark of the MathWorks,Inc.Preface This is a book for people who love mechanics of composite materials and MATLAB∗. We will use the popular computer package MATLAB as a matrix calculator for doing the numerical calculations needed in mechanics of com￾posite materials. In particular, the steps of the mechanical calculations will be emphasized in this book. The reader will not find ready-made MATLAB programs for use as black boxes. Instead step-by-step solutions of composite material mechanics problems are examined in detail using MATLAB. All the problems in the book assume linear elastic behavior in structural mechanics. The emphasis is not on mass computations or programming, but rather on learning the composite material mechanics computations and understanding of the underlying concepts. The basic aspects of the mechanics of fiber-reinforced composite materials are covered in this book. This includes lamina analysis in both the local and global coordinate systems, laminate analysis, and failure theories of a lamina. In the last two chapters of the book, we present a glimpse into two espe￾cially advanced topics in this subject, namely, homogenization of composite materials, and damage mechanics of composite materials. The authors have deliberately left out the two topics of laminated plates and stability of com￾posites as they feel these two topics are a little bit advanced for the scope of this book. In addition, each of these topics deserves a separate volume for its study and there are some books dedicated to these two topics. Each chapter starts with a summary of the basic equations. This is followed by the MAT￾LAB functions which are specific to the chapter. Then, a number of examples is solved demonstrating both the theory and numerical computations. The examples are of two types: the first type is theoretical and involves deriva￾tions and proofs of various equations, while the other type is MATLAB-based and involves using MATLAB in the calculations. A total of 44 special MAT￾LAB functions for composite material mechanics are provided as M-files on the accompanying CD-ROM to be used in the examples and solution of the ∗ MATLAB is a registered trademark of the MathWorks, Inc