Damage mechanics: accomplishments, trends and needs

The objective of this study is to highlight the accomplishments, weaknesses and trends of damage mechanics and research needed for further development. The growing interest in damage mechanics is a proof that the accomplishments are signi®cant. However, one of the messages is that the damage mechanics, in its focus on the dilute density of micro-defects and homogeneous solids, did not address the problems that are of primary interest in applications. The list of references in this paper is restricted to the current papers that list the older works.