Briefing: Meshless methods for civil engineering: past, present and future

This briefing paper outlines the need for new computational approaches in civil engineering, specifically focusing on meshless or mesh-free methods. Meshless methods are free of the restrictions of using a computational mesh and are therefore attractive for a large range of applications that go beyond the limitations of established and conventional engineering simulation tools. The author discusses why new approaches are needed, what meshless/mesh-free methods can offer civil engineering, identifying future challenges finishing with the observation that it is now when practitioners and researchers should combine efforts to advance and exploit the new opportunities enabled by these new engineering simulation tools.