This special issue of IPSE contains 10 papers selected from 44 papers presented at the International Symposium on Inverse Problems in Mechanics of Structures and Materials, called in short IPM 2009, held in Rzeszów-Łańcut, Poland on 23–25 April 2009. IPM 2009 was organized under the auspices of the European Community on Computational Mechanics in Applied Sciences as one of 22 Thematic Conferences in 2009. IMP 2009 was in fact a continuation of two Polish conferences organized on inverse problems of mechanics in 2000 and 2004.
In the majority of the papers, the direct analysis was applied to compute the mathematical model responses. Then, in the space of control parameters, a cost function was formulated in order to analyse an inverse problem. The corresponding optimum design problem was analysed by numerical methods of analytical and mostly soft character.
An in-depth mathematical discussion of the above-sketched approach was presented by B. Barabasz, R. Schaefer, M. Paszyński and S. Migorska. A new strategy hp-HGS was applied, where: hp – adaptive finite element method, HGS – hierarchic genetic strategy with subpopulations (demes). Multiple solutions were evaluated by parameter identification around local minima of the error function.
T. Frąś, Z. Nowak, P. Perzyna and R. Pęcherski extended Perzyna's model for the analysis of a new mechanism of inelastic shear banded deformations for ultra fine grained and nanocrystal metals.
The shear modulus of a thin layer and a profile of the shear compliance in a graded material were identified by P. Kiełczyński and M. Szalewski. The authors based their approach on the application of the generalized Love waves.
E. Majchrzak and M. Paruch analysed an inverse problem of hyperthermia, i.e. assuring a postulated temperature in the tumour region. The first results, obtained for simplified 2D electromagnetic and temperature fields, showed great efficiency when combining the gradient method and evolutionary algorithm.
A. Nowak, Z. Buliński, K. Kasza and L. Matysiak analysed a thermal inverse problem of the vacuum drying process of a crepe paper used in electrotechnology. They developed a mathematical model, which permitted to improve and optimize the time- and energy-consuming drying technology.
I. Nowak, J. Smołka and A. Nowak analysed an inverse problem of finding the interface location between the liquid and solid phases in continuing casting. The Bezier surfaces were applied for a geometry inverse problem.
E. Patelli and G. Schuëller generated samples of the microstructure of random material by efficient optimization methods (genetic algorithm, simulated annealing and Tabu-list).
A. Poteralski, M. Szczepanik, G. Dziatkiewicz, W. Kuś and T. Burczyński carried out parametric identification of a piezoelectric material combining the boundary element method and the artificial immune system.
A. Ryfa and R. Bialecki presented an approximate technique to reconstruct the spatial distribution of heat transfer explicitly from temperature measurements.
K. Ziopaja, Z. Pozorsaki and A. Garstecki focused on the application of discrete wavelet transformation for location and magnitude of defects hidden under the surfaces of structural elements.
We hope the readers will find the content of the issue interesting and stimulating.