O.Kintzel, J.-H. Hommel and G. Meschke Simulation of damage mechanisms and life time prediction of metallic structures Cooperative Research Center SFB 398 - Project C4 Olaf Kintzel, Jan-Hendrik Hommel and G¨ unther Meschke Institute for Structural Mechanics Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany S T R U C T U R A L M E C H A N I C S 2 nd International Conference Lifetime-Oriented Design Concepts 2004