Symmetry and Asymmetry: Principles and Applications in Smart Composite Structures

Dear Colleagues,

The development of smart composite structures is enabling a new generation of self-sensing and adaptive engineering systems. The performance and reliability of such advanced structures are governed by complex multi-physics interactions. Crucially, the behavior of composite structures can be profoundly understood through the lens of symmetry and asymmetry. While the design of composite materials often exploits symmetry in layup and sensor network architecture for optimal performance, the occurrence of damage, such as cracks, delamination, or impact, inevitably introduces asymmetry. This symmetry breaking serves as a fundamental indicator of structural degradation. Concurrently, breakthroughs in advanced sensing technologies and data-driven methodologies, particularly machine learning, are revolutionizing the field of structural health monitoring. These tools are exceptionally powerful for detecting and interpreting these subtle, often asymmetric, changes in structural response, enabling high-fidelity state capture, integrity assessment, and remaining life prediction.

We are pleased to invite you to contribute your latest research findings relevant to this Special Issue.

This Special Issue aims to explore the role of symmetry and asymmetry principles in the design, analysis, and monitoring of composite materials and structures. We welcome original research articles and reviews. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Symmetry-based design of composites and sensor networks;
• Damage identification by analyzing symmetry violation under complex loads;
• Advanced sensing technologies for capturing asymmetric states;
• Data-driven machine learning for modeling the evolution from symmetric integrity to asymmetric degradation.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Yinghong Yu
Dr. Xiao Liu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Symmetry is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.