The shock and impact behaviour of structures is a challenging area, not only because of the obvious time-dependent aspects, but also because of the difficulties in specifying the external dynamic loading characteristics for structural designs and hazard assessments and in obtaining the dynamic properties of materials. Thus, it is important to recognise and utilise fully the contributions and understanding emerging from theoretical, numerical and experimental studies on structures, as well as investigations into the material properties under dynamic loading conditions.

This volume contains the proceedings of the tenth International Conference on Structures under Shock and Impact that was held in The Algarve (Portugal) in May 2008. The papers presented reflect the broad range of practical interest in the shock and impact response of structures. The topics include various aspects of protection, such as the protection of buildings from explosive loadings and the protection of passengers in cars and coaches through structural energy absorbing systems. Other articles examine the response of concrete, composite and metal structures as well as fibre-metal laminates under a variety of impact and blast loadings. Individual papers focus on seismic loadings, missile penetration, energy absorbing systems, structural crashworthiness and other important industrial problems, some of which are studied using numerical schemes. Several papers have examined the dynamic properties of materials.