Over the past years meshfree methods for the solution of partial di?erential equations have signi?cantly matured and are used in various ?elds of appli- tions. One of the reasons for this development is the fact that meshfree d- cretizationsandparticlemodels areoftenbetter suitedto copewithgeometric changes of the domain of interest than mesh-based discretization techniques such as ?nite di?erences, ?nite elements or ?nite volumes. Furthermore, the computational costs associated with mesh generation are eliminated in me- free approaches, since they are based only on a set of independent points. From the modelling point of view, meshfree methods gained much interest in recent years since they may provide an e?cient and reliable approach to the coupling of contiuum models to particle models. In light of these developments the Sonderforschungsbereich 611 and the Gesellschaft fur Mathematik und Mechanik sponsored the second interna- ¿ tionalworkshoponMeshfreeMethodsforPartialDi?erentialEquations.Itwas hostedby the Institut fur ¿ Numerische Simulationatthe Rheinische Friedrich- Wilhelms Universit¿ at Bonn from September 15 to September 17, 2003. The organizers Ivo Babu? ska, Ted Belytschko, Michael Griebel, Wing Kam Liu, Helmut Neunzert, and Harry Yserentant invited scientist from twelve co- tries to Bonn with the aim to bring together European, American and Asian researchers working in this exciting area of interdisciplinary research. The objective of the workshop was not only to strengthen the mathematical - derstanding and analysis of meshfree discretizations but also to promote the exchange of ideas on their implementation and application.

"The numerical treatment of partial differential equations with particle methods and meshfree discretization techniques is a very active research field both in the mathematics and engineering community. Due to their independence of a mesh, particle schemes and meshfree methods can deal with large geometric changes of the domain more easily than classical discretization techniques. Furthermore, meshfree methods offer a promising approach for the coupling of particle models to continuous models. This volume of LNCSE is a collection of the papers from the proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Meshfree Methods held in September 2003 in Bonn. The articles address the different meshfree methods (SPH, PUM, GFEM, EFGM, RKPM, etc.) and their application in applied mathematics, physics and engineering. The volume is intended to foster this new and exciting area of interdisciplinary research and to present recent advances and results in this field."

A Particle Strategy for Solving the Fokker-Planck Equation Modelling the Fiber Orientation Distribution in Steady Recirculating Flows Involving Short Fiber Suspensions.- Extended Meshfree Method for Elastic and Inelastic Media.- Meshfree Petrov-Galerkin Methods for the Incompressible Navier-Stokes Equations.- The ?-shape Based Natural Element Method in Solid and Fluid Mechanics.- A Particle-Partition of Unity Method Part VI: A p-robust Multilevel Solver.- Enriched Reproducing Kernel Approximation: Reproducing Functions with Discontinuous Derivatives.- Reproducing Kernel Element Interpolation: Globally Conforming I m/C n/P k Hierarchies.- Multi-scale Analysis Using Two Influence Radii in EFGM.- Solution of a Dynamic Main Crack Interaction with a System of Micro-Cracks by the Element Free Galerkin Method.- Finite Cover Method for Physically and Geometrically Nonlinear Problems.- A Numerical Scheme for Solving Incompressible and Low Mach Number Flows by the Finite Pointset Method.- SPH Renormalized Hybrid Methods for Conservation Laws: Applications to Free Surface Flows.- Discontinuous Radial Basis Function Approximations for Meshfree Methods.- Treating Moving Interfaces in Thermal Models with the C-NEM.- Bridging Scale Particle and Finite Element Methods.