This special issue is dedicated to memory of Professor David Rooke. Professor Rooke worked his entire career at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), Farnborough, UK, later known as QinetiQ. He was one of the pioneering researchers in development of numerical methods for evaluation of stress intensity factors and championed research into computational fracture mechanics within the UK aircraft sector [Rooke, D.P., Baratta, F.I. and Cartwright, D.J. Simple methods of determining stress intensity factors. Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 14, 397-426,1981]. The Compendium of Stress Intensity Factor he published together with Prof. David Cartwright is regarded as a seminal publication, authoritatively complied and commented upon, and, widely used in academia and industry [Rooke, D.P. and Cartwright, D.J. Compendium of Stress Intensity Factors, HSMO, 1979]. Prof. Rooke's early work was on integral transforms, Green's function and point collocation methods which led to solutions for cracks emanating from holes [Tweed, J. and Rooke, D.P. The stress intensity factor for a crack at the edge of a loaded hole, Int. J. Solids and Struc, 15, 899-906, 1979]. These solutions are regards as the benchmark for accuracy for these type of solutions. Later, he worked extensively on Compunding techniques where he published his thesis [Rooke, D.P. Compounded stress intensity factors for cracks at fastener holes, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 19, 359-374,1984]. He became interested in the boundary element method for fracture mechanics in mid-eighties and was instrumental in getting the RAE in sponsoring much research projects in this area.
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