Nowadays, structural design is facing major challenges in the associated joining processes, such as material selection, different thermal coefficients and melting points, multi-material joining, the joining of thin-walled structures, traditional process effectiveness for new materials, cost-efficiency and ecological issues. To provide a strong, reliable and lightweight solutions for a given application, designers should either consider hybrid joining or choose from a large variety of available processes, such as welding, brazing, riveting, mechanical fastening, adhesive bonding, clinching, friction stir welding, laser welding and diffusion welding, amongst others. These joining processes have evolved towards optimization and cost reduction in the early design stages in terms of their implementation and industrialization, destructive and non-destructive testing and either analytical or numerical modeling. Numerical modeling is particularly effective for simulating complex geometries, different load scenarios and materials with plasticity or anisotropy. The finite element method, together with fracture mechanics techniques, is a powerful and common approach employed in the scientific community, but less applied for the study of complex loads, such as high strain rates, fatigue or impact, and it is seldom used in the industry. To develop state-of-the-art techniques and disseminate the recent advances in all types of joining, either experimental or numerical, this Reprint brings together a significant number of high-quality contributions to this field of research through innovative and original works.
